


A Shinigami Ballad

by Ms_Notebook (You_Light_The_Sky)



Category: Kyoukai no Rinne | Rin-ne
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-01-02
Updated: 2012-01-02
Packaged: 2017-10-28 18:29:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,274
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/310855
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/You_Light_The_Sky/pseuds/Ms_Notebook
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which a ghost threatens to kill whoever attends the school dance, Rinne and Sakura pretend to date in order to lure her in, while Ageha and a reluctant Tsubasa try to 'break them up.' Then the spirit takes an interest in Rinne...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer: I don't own Rin-ne/Kyokai no Rinne. It belongs to Rumiko Takahashi and Viz Media.
> 
> Note: Spoilers up to Chapter 51 of the manga. This story veers away from canon after that point.

Today's teachers' meeting was at its usual low. The air conditioner was broken, meaning there was nothing to fight off the sluggish gel of hot air that wiggled around them like a fat and disgusting worm. Even with the spacious room for the staff, fitting several adult bodies into one stiflingly humid cage increased the degree of temperature and the power of the heat upon them. Even the strictest of teachers could not keep up the farce of perfect attention, occasionally lulling off into a depressing state of exhaustion or trying vainly to fan him or herself with their papers.

Though the principal tried to appear cool and collected, it was now apparent from the slouching in his posture and the shaking of his hand as he pointed to the board (which had detailed new lesson plans) that he was beginning to feel the passive attacks of the summer air. Not even the whirling of the electric fans could lessen the burden. Its comforting sounds were now garbled into a peculiar language of gibberish that no one could hope to comprehend, or even want to.

There was one who still retained his positive aura, his younger years a major contrast between him and the older teachers. Suzuki-sensei, the gym teacher, had been excited for this meeting all year. They were planning the budget for new physical activities and maybe even a fund for financially-deprived children such as that Rinne-kun. He was determined to fight for the fund, so that maybe Rinne-kun could get a new track suit. He still recalled the look on Rinne-kun's face when he had discovered that he couldn't keep the old track suit that Suzuki-sensei had tried to give him.

In all honesty, that look now haunted him whenever he spotted the red-haired boy in the halls, so much so that he would run in the other direction once encountered him. But no more! Suzuki-sensei would solve all of this!

"...Alright, so we are now brought to the issue of school events. Once again, we will be having a sports festival later in the year..." The principal trailed off, for that news never changed and it was generally self-explanatory. He moved on to the next topic. "The student council has approached us, for about the fortieth time, about our school hosting a midnight masquerade dance in a month. Though we have told them time and time again that our school no longer hosts—"

"Wait, why not?" Suzuki-sensei demanded as all thoughts of a private fund gone from his mind as soon as a new altruistic mission came to mind. "There should be no problems with organizing such an event if we arrange the proper chaperones and security. I'll even chaperone!"

The principal looked up at him dully, while some of the female teachers seemed to be more awed by what he said. They were interested in seeing their students dressed up nicely in beautiful clothing. It would be a nice change of atmosphere. The other teachers looked as if they couldn't care less—they just wanted to be out of this room and take refuge in their air-conditioned homes.

"Suzuki-san," said the principal slowly, "the last time we tried to organize an event such as this...," he paused, as if wondering if it were safe for him to continue on with his words, "...someone died."

Worried murmurs broke out in the room. They all remembered the news articles, for they had been young children then. It had been a great scandal because the girl had been found, mutilated, in the school gym. As young dancers had entered the gym, they screamed to find the mangled corpse hanging from the disco ball up above, and blood dripping on the floor. The pictures were extremely graphic, and induced nightmares on many, even now.

"You don't honestly believe there's a curse, do you? It's been more than twenty years! We don't need to be superstitious that someone might die just because there's a _dance_ ," Suzuki-sensei waved it off. "You remember the results of the investigation, don't you? The police determined that she killed herself. No one murdered her. I doubt there are any murderers or ghosts at our school."

"Yes, Suzuki-san is right," a female teacher, Ogata-san stood up along with him, shining a great smile, "We should organize this dance! It'll create a great morale for the students, and in the night air, well; it won't be so darned hot now, will it?"

"We shouldn't be held back by pure superstition."

Enthusiastically, all of the other female teachers agreed with them, while the rest of the teachers just went along with it. The sooner they settled this matter, the better. Besides, Suzuki-sensei's logic made sense. There was nothing supernatural about a simple dance.

The principal, as he watched the unanimous vote for the dance to proceed, tried to suppress the shiver he felt in his stomach as the teachers began planning...

For a minute, he thought something else had been in the meeting room with them.

 **-1- Frivolous Trivialities**

When Sakura arrived at school, she did not see Rinne at his weather hutch, or in the classroom. His absence nagged at her, but she decided to keep the tugging feeling to herself. Perhaps he was just late, out putting another spirit to rest. Maybe he had a rough night and was sleeping in. Later, after school, Sakura decided she would check up on him.

The school day went by without a hint of the whereabouts of Rinne. Sakura copied her notes obediently, and listened to Tsubasa's ongoing chatter. He had apparently gotten some new exorcising equipment which he was convinced would prove that he was the better man than Rokudo, or something to that effect. She hid a smile whenever he said something rather amusing, not wanting to insult her childhood friend. Tsubasa, who had gleefully taken note of Rinne's absence, sat in his desk instead, taking great joy in lending Sakura his eraser, though she already one.

Her friends Miho and Rika had noticed Rinne's absence as well, and nudged Sakura with winks, asking if she was going to come over to Rinne's place to check up on him. As usual, Sakura didn't pay their insinuations much mind; after all, there was nothing romantic between Rinne and herself.

She went about her day in her usual carefree and calm daze, only breaking out of it once, in the middle of class, when she realized that she should be copying some notes for Rinne. The lessons had been somewhat complex today, and he would probably appreciate not having to copy the day's notes on his own if he was still exhausted from his latest exorcisms. Carefully, Sakura rewrote her notes during lunch with an excuse to her friends that she was busy doing an errand for a teacher. Every stroke of kanji, on the set of papers intended for Rinne, was legible and clear.

Sakura smiled to herself when she finished. It ended up taking more time than she thought, so Sakura only had the leisure of eating about half of her lunch. The girl didn't mind at all, for she hadn't had much appetite anyways. Besides, she knew that Rinne would appreciate the extra food she gave him.

It was when lunch ended and the bell rang, signalling the return to class, that Rinne showed up.

Nearly every student had sat down at their desks, when the sort-of shinigami inconspicuously stumbled into the room, breathing loudly as if he had been out of breath beforehand. In alarm, Sakura noted the drops of sweat dripping against the shinigami's tanned skin and his glazed red eyes. His normally shiny red hair seemed as dull and dreary as he looked. A number of their classmates began to whisper in light gossip, as they usually did when anything strange concerned the odd Rokudo-kun.

Immediately, Sakura walked up to him with a determined look. Rinne, holding himself up against the chalkboard, blinked warily at her before his face softened and he recognized her. It was clear that he was having difficulty with his vision. But as Sakura came closer than usual, and she reached out a hand, Rinne blinked in confusion about to protest when she checked his forehead. The shinigami's face coloured light pink (It must be a fever, thought Sakura in concern) as her tiny hand settled quickly against his warm skin and her violet eyes furrowed in worry.

"…Sakura Mamiya…?" His voice was raspy, as if he were having difficulty speaking. She took note of it, and looked at him again, this time memorizing the glaze in his eyes, and the indecipherable emotions in it. Once again, Rinne's breath hitched. Sakura frowned; her classmate and friend seemed to be having difficulty breathing.

He must be very sick! Sakura Mamiya concluded quietly. Why did he bother coming, anyways?

When Sakura removed her hand, she viewed the sweat on it and frowned at him, "Rokudo-kun, if you're feeling ill, you should go home right away. I'll bring your homework to you later. You don't need worry about missing more school—"

Though, when Sakura thought about it, Rinne _had_ missed the first month of school at the beginning of the year. Maybe it wasn't school that he was worried about.

"—Sakura Mamiya," Rinne sounded disgruntled as he spoke to her, turning his head away with that usual thoughtful gaze directed to the floor. His face was definitely flushed light red. But Sakura couldn't recall a warm fever, maybe she should've checked again. "I'm fine. It's just the heat, that's all. The abandoned school building is smouldering in this season... I couldn't even get up this morning."

With his regretful tone, the sort-of shinigami succeeded in looking quite forlorn.

"Oh, well, you could borrow one of our old electric fans. I'll even give you some batteries. My mom and I don't use it anymore, since we live in a smaller house and the heat doesn't really bother us," Sakura suggested, brightening up considerably. She was relieved that the shinigami wasn't actually sick, just suffering from the mundane heat like everyone else.

Rinne nearly fell over in shock, his gratitude glowing like the rising sun, "Are you quite certain that you would be able to lend me one of those magnificent machines? I would understand if you changed your mind. It does get rather hot this season."

"Of course, I'm sure!" Sakura insisted. She couldn't just sit and let her friend suffer from the summer's heat, her mind reeled in worry just thinking of it. The black track suit Rinne wore all the time probably made it worse, as black was most absorbent of heat. "Come on, let's go sit down."

Together they made their way to their respective seats with Rinne thanking Sakura repeatedly along the way in different variations. He was practically skipping with a rare joy that Sakura was sad to say, didn't happen unless he was blessed with, what he called, a luxury. But his happiness was infectious, and Sakura found herself smiling calmly along with him.

"You don't know how much this means to me, Sakura Mamiya. You are truly a wonderful woman, I offer you my greatest and more sincere thanks," Rinne paused, and then looked away his cheeks becoming slightly pink as he realized he was rambling.

"It really isn't any trouble," Sakura assured him. "It was the least I could do."

"Ah… but it must be," Rinne reminisced quietly, most likely thinking of his past. Sometimes Sakura wanted to just put a hand on his shoulder and tell him it would be ok… But her classmate was so aloof and often blasé that Sakura doubted it would be the right course of action to take. There was so much she still didn't know about him, and Sakura doubted he would ever open up to her—a rather insignificant part of his life.

"I wish I could repay you somehow, Sakura Mamiya…," said the sort-of shinigami in a whisper.

Sakura blinked, interrupted from her musings. She looked at Rinne to see if he was talking to her, but his gaze was fixated to the teacher up front, who was now standing up to begin the day's lesson. It seemed that he hadn't said anything after all—it must've been her imagination again.

Behind them, Tsubasa glared daggers at Rinne's head. _I saw you two talking! You won't win the war for Mamiya-san's heart, Rokudo! I swear it!_

"Does he realize that he's speaking out loud?" whispered one of the boys beside him to the other.

"Nope. He's kind of an idiot, so I doubt that," the other shook his head. "Poor guy."

"May I ask for your attention, class?" said their teacher Ogata-san. She was their Mathematics teacher and fairly younger than most of the staff at the school. Many upperclassmen had small crushes on her, for she was very kind, with long brownish black hair and soft chocolate eyes. Rumour had it that she fancied Suzuki-sensei, but it was yet to be confirmed.

The mild chatter and gossip which had been echoing through the mouths and ears of the teenaged students dyed down to an attentive quiet. All pairs of eyes turned to the Mathematics teachers with a few exceptions that were looking out the window to the school yard below. Satisfied with the quiet, Ogata-sensei dusted off her plaid skirt and fixed the collar on her white dress-shirt.

"I have an important announcement for you, which I can guess, will especially thrill the female population of the class," Ogata-sensei winked at them. "The teachers and school board have finally approved the student council's request for a formal dance to be held in approximately one month's time."

She paused for effect—smiling widely when the entire class seemed to burst into excited chatter. Girls were now fussing over what they would wear, what to buy and when, their make-up and what boy to ask to the dance. The more popular males smirked, knowing that they'd be able to find a date and look good while doing it. Some boys were looking shyly at their crushes, wondering if they should swallow their pride and just ask.

If one paid attention, they would see that a certain exorcist was staring dreamily at the ceiling, caught up in a fantasy involving a fairy tale waltz between himself and his Mamiya-san. In his daydream, they were laughing and having a good time, while Tsubasa remained sauvé, cool and princely. God thank the student council, thought Tsubasa.

Everyone seemed quite enthusiastic about the idea—except for a certain pair. Sakura seemed entirely indifferent to the whole affair. The idea of a dance intrigued her a little bit, but in the end, Sakura didn't care too much for it. Dancing was fun and all, so was dressing up, but Sakura didn't think this merited so much uproar and excitement. Was it really necessary to go to so much trouble?

Looking for another opinion, Sakura snuck a glance at her seating partner.

Rinne had gone entirely pale.

Sakura's eyes widened, scenarios of how much a tuxedo, flowers, shoes, a ticket and food would cost for such an event. No wonder her classmate seemed like the world had ended! Imagine how much it would take from his wallet if the event was mandatory!

"Rokudo-kun…," Sakura whispered quietly, "it'll be alright. Don't worry… I'm sure we can explain the situation…"

He snapped out of his depressive state, locked eyes with hers and then nodded slowly. "Thank you, Sakura Mamiya. You're correct."

She flashed him an encouraging smile, and then turned her attention to the teacher once more.

"The theme of the dance is a midnight masquerade. The dance will take place outside and in the school auditorium. There will be teacher chaperones, so please refrain from coming to the dance drunk or we will kick you off the premises. There will be a breathalyser and security to prevent any smuggling of drugs or alcohol. We expect you to be on your best behaviour during the dance, and masks are a requirement after security checks. It will be a formal dance, so ladies, feel free to dress as extravagantly as you feel! Gentlemen, dress sharp and treat your date as if she were a princess for that evening! The dance will last till an hour after midnight. At midnight there will be fireworks and a special surprise…," Ogata-sensei smiled at them. "Tickets will go on sale next week. They will be six thousand five hundred yen each—"

A loud choking sound could be heard as Rinne fell over in his seat at the sound of the price. His head would've hit the floor in an awful splat if it weren't for the fact that Sakura's desk was so close to his. Instead, Rinne's head ended up landing on Sakura's lap, as the sort-of shinigami's body gave light twitches. He was crying tears of blood again.

"Six… thousand… five hundred… yen…," Rinne mumbled—delusional—as his hands made uncontrolled spasms. His nose and face dug into Sakura's stomach, as if trying to hide from the world.

"Rokudo-kun! Are you alright?" Ogata-sensei asked in alarm, while many students stood up to try and get a look at the scene.

"AH! Rokudo! You're defiling Mamiya-san with your presence! I demand you get off of her this instant!" Tsubasa yelled indignantly, while shouting more obscenities about Sakura's innocence. He reached for his sacred ashes instinctively—causing the collective student population in the class to cringe, for they had been witness to Tsubasa's unprovoked attacks of ashes many times before. It wasn't fun.

"No, Tsubasa-kun," Sakura put up a hand to stop him. "I'm fine. Don't worry about it," she told him reassuringly when he asked her if she was sure. Then Sakura looked apologetically to the teacher, "I'm sorry, sensei… but it seems Rokudo-kun is feeling sick today. May I take him to the infirmary?"

"Yes, yes, of course. You have my permission to stay with him for the rest of the period too. I'll send up one of your classmates to inform you of what you've missed, later," said Ogata-sensei, looking quite worried.

"Thank you very much, sensei," Sakura bowed politely.

Then, she propped Rinne against her shoulder and moved with the shocked sort-of shinigami out of the classroom.

("Wait!" Tsubasa had shouted then, "Let me come with them!"

"Jumonji-san, please sit down and take down your notes on Trigonometry," Ogata-sensei responded blandly.

"Poor guy… I feel for you, man," said another random classmate.

Tsubasa pouted for the entire period, like a sulking puppy.)

* * *

"He doesn't seem to have a temperature. It must just be shock, as you said, then," said the school nurse, Hiromu-sensei. She smiled sympathetically at Sakura, who was sitting patiently at Rinne's bedside. "Your friend just needs some rest and relaxation. Maybe you should take him home early."

"Yes, I'll tell him that when he wakes up," Sakura nodded, her brows still creased in obvious concern. "Thank you very much for your help, Hiromu-sensei."

The school nurse moved and drew the curtains, thinking of how cute it was to see a young couple being so attentive to each other's health. The curtains would give them some privacy, Hiromu-sensei thought with a devious smirk. "Ah, teenaged romance," she sung to herself as she skipped away to help another ill student.

Sakura sighed, leaning her elbows against the edge of the soft mattress, to stare quietly at the pale face of her friend. His eyes were wide, as if he couldn't see her. In his shock, he had not been very receptive to anything that Sakura had said to him, and it worried her greatly.

"…Rokudo-kun…," she murmured, rubbing circles on his hand.

She hadn't really thought about it, as she placed her two palms around Rinne's shaking one and tried to soothe him with her gentle touch. She recalled her mother and father doing this for her when she felt scared or alone, sick or injured. They would hold her hand, rub comforting circles against her skin and hum a gentle song.

For Sakura, this came as naturally as taking breath. The song, a lullaby she remembered from her grandmother's house, flowed out as soft as a lulling wave of the sea and tranquil as a sleep against a hammock. It was just a comforting and soothing melody, which beckoned the listeners into its world of soft calm and untroubled skies.

Several minutes of humming later, with Sakura lost to the calm movements of her hands, Rinne's hand squeezed hers tightly, and she found that red eyes were staring at her intently.

"Ah…," Sakura dropped her hands away, ignoring the odd quirk in her stomach as she did so and the frown on Rinne's lips. "Rokudo-kun. Are you feeling better now?"

"Yes, much better. Thank you for taking me to the infirmary," he told her politely.

Rolling her eyes, Sakura told him, "You don't need to be so formal around me. We're friends."

"…if you say so," he smiled—for they had been over this many times.

"So what are you going to do about the dance?" Sakura asked him. He smiled in relief when she didn't mention his fainting spell. "It's a lot of money for a ticket, and even more for a tuxedo."

"I'm not going," Rinne said adamantly.

Sakura laughed at his answer.

Rinne frowned, "Why are you laughing?"

"Ah, sorry. It's just the very answer I would expect from you," Sakura smiled, good-naturedly.

He looked away from her. "…Are you going to the dance with anybody?"

The girl blinked at him. "No—"The shinigami's posture seemed to strengthen from this answer. "—not unless someone asks me."

Instantly, his posture slumped.

She noticed.

"Rokudo-kun… are you… upset…?"

"No," he answered briskly, "of course not. I'm not interested in these events. They're just frivolous trivialities compared to staying alive."

That answer was uncharacteristically cold of him. Sakura leaned in closer, "Are you sure you're alright?"

"Sakura Mamiya," he paused, as if deliberating if he should say something or not. And then, after Sakura gave him a small encouraging smile, he opened his mouth and—

The curtains were flung open with such force that the curtain rack fell over on top of Rinne and then Sakura was engulfed in a blanket of curtain.

"Alright, Mamiya-san, don't worry, I'm here!" Tsubasa declared boldly, hands in the air.

He blinked as soon as he realized what he had done, watching as a simmering Rinne glared at him from under the curtain rack.

"Wow, Rokudo. What happened to you?"

* * *

They walked out of school together as always, parting when Rinne needed to return to the abandoned school building. Waiting patiently by the weather hutch was a certain black cat who jumped into Sakura's arms with joy.

"Sakura-sama, how are you?" Rokumon chirped, purring as she stoked his shiny black fur.

"I'm fine, thank you," Sakura grinned at him.

"I heard about the electric fan! That is very generous of you, Sakura-sama. Rinne-sama is so lucky to have you as his companion," Rokumon said dramatically.

"Oy, don't going around saying stuff like that," Rinne muttered at him.

"Electric fan?" Tsubasa frowned, his Rinne-and-Sakura-must-be-getting-closer radar running again, "What fan? What's he talking about?"

"Oh, I'm lending it to Rokudo-kun and Rokumon-chan to cool down their room," said Sakura. "We wouldn't want them to get seriously ill."

"No… of course not…," Tsubasa agreed grudgingly, while glowering at the nonchalant Rinne.

 _I know you're up to something! But you won't win, I'll ask her first!_

"Aw! Sakura-sama, only someone who _cares_ about my master so much would say that," Rokumon grinned at Tsubasa.

Rinne chose that moment to look very interested in a blade of grass as Tsubasa spluttered in jealous rage. Darn you Rokudo! He thought.

"Anything new?" Sakura asked Rinne as he checked the weather hutch.

He shook his head, "Not really."

"Oh, that reminds me! I wasn't feeling too hungry today, so I didn't eat my lunch. I thought you might like it," Sakura pulled out a bento box and a stack of notes, "and this is the homework that I missed."

Rinne's face became touched once more, his indifferent mask melting into gratitude. "Sakura Mamiya… you didn't have to…"

"Ah… like I said… it isn't any trouble."

"Alright then! Let's go home, Mamiya-san," Tsubasa cut in between them. "I wanted to walk you there… and ask a _very important question_."

"Oh, yes. Of course," Sakura nodded while Rinne's eyes narrowed at Tsubasa's smug figure. "Bye Rokumon-chan, Rokudo-kun!"

They walked away.

Rokumon jumped on to Rinne's shoulder, a paw on his lips, "You don't think that he'll take Sakura-sama away from you, do you?"

Rinne was indifferent again, clutching the bento box and stack of notes in his hands tightly, "…It's not my business. Besides, what Sakura Mamiya does in her spare time, is not business of mine. Let's go back to the building, Rokumon."

"Hm…," Rokumon gave a sly smirk. "…If you insist, Rinne-sama. But don't blame me if Jumonji and Sakura-sama get attacked by a rapist on the way there and the rapist kills Jumonji and then kidnaps Sakura Mamiya…"

"On second thought, let's go patrolling for lone spirits, Rokumon," his master turned abruptly, putting on his haori of the underworld.

Rokumon silently chuckled to himself.

His master was so easy to manipulate.

* * *

"What is it you wanted to ask me, Tsubasa-kun?"

The exorcist jumped slightly, feeling a bit shy. Butterflies flew around in his stomach and his hands were beginning to get sweaty.

 _You can do this… you can do this…_ He told himself.

"Mamiya-san… you know about the dance… right?" He kicked himself mentally. Of course she knew about the dance! She was there when Ogata-sensei announced it! "Uh… I was wondering… if you… would come… with me… to the dance, that is."

Sakura stopped in her tracks.

He gulped and repeated himself, sounding more confident. "Please come to the dance with me, Mamiya-san. I promise, you won't regret it."

On a roof across from them, Rinne fell promptly into the bushes.

"Ah! Rinne-sama!" Rokumon cried from above.

"Rokudo-kun?" Sakura and Tsubasa both turned around.

Well, this would be interesting.

* * *

Within the school, as teachers and students conversed more and more about the dance… a certain sleeping figure stirred from her many decades long slumber.

" _ **Did someone say… 'dance'?"**_

Green orbs flickered eerily in the shadows of the school gym.


	2. Chapter 2

Soft music trickled down into the vacant hallway of the school's third floor. The swish-swish of the fabric coils bunched together into the end of a mop streaked a thin layer of soapy water across the white tiled floor in smooth parallel lines. Again the mop was dipped into the bucket of water, soaking up as much moisture as possible before kissing the dusty floor once more, whipping away all dirt and grime. The pattern repeated at each lyric, carefully following the catchy beat which echoed from the janitor's blinking ipod.

The janitor, a tall rather lanky man with heavily bearded face and shaggy black hair, bobbed his head up and down, the wires from his head phones dancing along with him. He moved the mop back and forth, picturing it as his dance partner, merely swishing with the rhythm. His quick footsteps joined in the echoes of the hallway, filling the emptiness of the school with a taste of life. Hikaru Taheji, unlike others of his profession, truly loved his job. He liked to clean and he liked to dance, it was as simple as that.

The fifty-two year old quickly finished mopping up the third floor's hallway and, whistling along to the tune of _Change the World,_ began to clean the stairway. So absorbed in his music, he did not notice the subtle influx of shadow behind him which should've been sitting contently under the moonlight.

Wispy like smoke and as slippery as liquid, the shadow slid over top, almost shaping into a rope, with a long loop at the end, a loop big enough to place one's neck against. Taheji hummed to the song once more, slowly moving to the top of the stairs. From the corner of his eye, with his peripheral vision, he caught sight of the shadow. Alarmed, Taheji looked up, just to make sure that he was seeing correctly.

The shadow was gone.

Taheji frowned and then returned to his mopping. Most likely, his eyes were playing tricks on him. After all it had been a pretty long day and he was working overtime. Fatigue was probably catching up to him, trying to catch his attention by showing him lies. His music helped to distract him from his current worry, the bits and pieces of melody filling the silent air.

Again, a shadow flickered around him and rushed past his mop. This time Taheji noticed, but not because he had seen it. No, it was because he had _felt_ something—he didn't know what it was—brush past him. It wasn't his imagination or the wind or any other nonsense. It had been something hard, like a body, someone's arm.

Cautious, Taheji muttered, "Who's there? If there are students in the school after hours, I'll have you reported to the authorities. You know the rules. This is no time to be playing games."

Nothing moved. No shadows, no brushes.

Tense, the janitor slowly moved his mop back into the bucket, his ipod still playing the upbeat song. He would've put the incident out his mind once more but then he heard the voice.

"… _Turn off that music…_ " a raspy voice drawled out, its tone echoing and rattling the janitor's very soul with pure fear.

This wasn't a joke—not this time. Taheji scowled and said bravely, "Show yourself! Who are you?"

Clipping footsteps sounded all around him, the sound of broken high heels clopping all over. Yet Taheji, no matter where he turned, saw no one. He only heard the disconcerting sound of party shoes surrounding him and the feel that someone was breathing against his neck.

"Stop that!" the janitor shouted, a cold sweat breaking out. "Don't come near me. What are you? What do you want?"

"… _Turn off… that music…,"_ Taheji's eyes widened at the return of the disembodied voice moaning around him. "… _So… they want to put on a dance… do they?_ " The voice made shivers coarse through his body in tremors. There was something dark and angry in it. Something horrible.

He took a step back, about to run when the voice spoke up violently.

" _I'll never forgive_ him _… I'll never forgive them…._ _ **I'll never forgive them**_ _!_ "

And then, before Taheji knew what was happening, something hard pushed him against the ground, and he felt the sensation of hard footsteps stomping on his body before he dimly realized that his ipod had been smashed into several little pieces.

His body was bruised and bloodied… and his music was no more.

 **-2- Rampant Feelings**

 _Several hours earlier…_

"Mom, these are my friends Tsubasa-kun and Rokudo-kun. They're in my class. I'm sorry for having them drop in unannounced, but they were… walking me home… when Rokudo-kun hit his head rather badly. Could I invite them in? I need to take a look at the bump on Rokudo-kun's head and put some balm on it," Sakura nonchalantly said. Rokumon, in his cat form, mewed softly at her feet. "Oh, and this Rokudo-kun's pet. He likes following him."

Mrs. Mamiya stood momentarily flabbergasted at the door. She was a fairly tall woman, but she was still an inch or two shorter than the boys, just like her daughter. Her kind face was a bit round, but it had a healthy hue complimented by the trails of long brown hair running down past her shoulders. As she looked them over with violet eyes, Rinne couldn't help but note that mother and daughter shared the same eye colour. But unlike Sakura's more observant and calm gaze, her mother's gaze was scattered and extremely cheery.

For several uncomfortable minutes, Kaori Mamiya merely stared openly at her daughter's guests, lingering particularly on Tsubasa's cross and undershirt as well as Rinne's messy red hair and black track suit. Her mouth slowly melded into a bright smile.

"We're very sorry for dropping by unexpectedly, ma'am," Rinne quickly bowed his head low. He had not noticed Kaori's widened smile. "Your daughter insisted that I come in for some treatment." It was true, he had wanted to go straight home (out of what Sakura assumed to be embarrassment from falling off of a roof—she still didn't know what he had been doing up there. But Tsubasa seemed to, for he hadn't stopped sending Rokudo-kun many dirty glares during the walk to her house.) but Sakura had been adamant.

"No, no! I'm very pleased to meet you both," Kaori said warmly, moving out of the way. "Come in, come in! Sakura-chan rarely brings any friends over. This is such a treat, meeting two very handsome young men. I hope that Sakura-chan has been treating you well."

"Oh yes, she's a great girl," Tsubasa nodded enthusiastically.

Rinne, surprised by the friendly welcome, shyly nodded, "Your daughter has been of great assistance to me when I needed it. I'm truly grateful to her."

Kaori squealed happily, "My! What polite friends you have, Sakura-chan! Though I hope they aren't too polite around you, that's no fun," she gave the now flustered Tsubasa and Rinne a push towards the hall, "Go into the living room and chat. I'll go get some tea and cookies!"

"Oh, we couldn't possibly trouble you—"

"Nonsense, I'm happy to entertain you all," Mrs. Mamiya cut off Rinne's worried sentence. She skipped off to the kitchen, almost tripping over her shoes. Obviously Sakura Mamiya got her calm and logic from her father; otherwise she would've been just as clumsy as her mother.

Sakura looked apologetically at her friends, "My mother is easily excited. It's one of her redeeming qualities, but sometimes she can get carried away… and then she falls over on the floor or gets her head hit against a cupboard door. I hope you don't mind."

"No, your mom is cool," Tsubasa nodded, putting his hands in his pockets.

Rinne agreed with him. He rather liked Sakura's mother. She reminded him of his grandmother, who was just as crazy.

Rokumon merely hopped onto Rinne's shoulder, content to stay in cat form the time being. He yawned, closed his eyes and went to sleep. The movements of his breathing comforted Rinne, who was beginning to feel rather nervous in Sakura Mamiya's home.

Politely, Sakura gave them permission to sit down at the small table in the living room. It was a lovely carved wooden table in the shape of an oval. There were some smooth etchings on it of lotus flowers adorning the borders. Rinne also took notice of the wallpaper in the living room, a claming light green colour with silhouettes of sakura blossoms painted along the sides. It seemed that Sakura's mother favoured flowers.

He turned his gaze to a stray plant in the corner, leafy and green. There were tatami mats lining the floor so that they could lie against the ground. There was no need for chairs. A small television sat in another corner accompanied by a quaint white bookshelf. As expected there were several books on gardening and flower arranging. The other books were about cooking and there were some historical and classical texts too. Rinne was surprised to see the books, and wondered if it was Sakura who read them. He also wondered if she enjoyed reading old texts as much as he did.

Then, Rinne noticed the shelf. It was made of glass, against the wall held a large picture frame. An offering of fresh fruits was placed before it as well as the traditional red incense and statues. It was a shrine. As Rinne got closer, his eyes widened as he saw that the person staring back at him was a middle-aged man with the same calm gaze as Sakura Mamiya, and the same shade of brown hair.

"This is…," the words escaped his mind as he stood speechless before the picture.

Tsubasa, curious, looked over and then paled. "Mamiya-san… is this your father?"

"Hm?" Sakura looked up, coming into the room with a first aid kit. Her attention came to the shrine and then she smiled fondly, though there was a hint of sadness there. "Yes. His name was Soichiro Mamiya. He died when I was little… a couple years after I could see ghosts… He passed on peacefully."

The air became wistful, tinged with a fragile grief that only those who had lost loved ones could understand. Tsubasa looked sorrowfully at the picture, "…I lost my mother too… She was killed by an evil spirit."

Rinne stared at surprise. He saw that Sakura Mamiya was unfazed, she probably already knew. After all, she and Jumonji had been friends since they were small. But he hadn't known about Jumonji or Sakura Mamiya's losses. It made him feel sad. But he also understood. After all, he rarely liked talking about his grandfather's death, though he understood it.

Death is a natural part of life, he remembered his grandmother telling him. Although we will meet these souls again in our next lives, death is still sad for the living. But we still have to carry on. You'll meet other people who understand this just like you, and the pain will lessen. It'll be alright to admit your sadness then.

"I miss him sometimes," Rinne spoke up, before he could stop himself, "my grandfather was a very kind person… he used to bring me books whenever he went out…"

The other two glanced up, startled from their thoughts. Rinne remained stoic, hiding his awkwardness behind a cool mask. Then, unexpectedly, Tsubasa clapped him on his shoulder, "Well, I guess we all have our losses. But the on the bright side, we'll see them again, won't we?"

Rinne blinked warily at Tsubasa's grinning face, "Eh… what?"

"In our next lives, of course," Tsubasa said.

"On the wheel of reincarnation," Sakura chimed in with a smile, "so it does no good to linger on bad memories."

For a minute, he couldn't say anything against their friendly grins. It was something familiar and yet alien to him, something he vaguely remembered in his childhood as warmth. Rinne tried to recall what it was, when he realized that it was the happiness of having friends (not that he'd ever admit it to Tsubasa Jumonji).

"Yeah…," Rinne smiled back.

"So, let's take a look at that bump on your head," Sakura Mamiya moved in closer to his face, placing her cool hands on the redness which had formed against his hair.

Gulping, Rinne suppressed a shiver at her touch, maintaining the image of a blasé teenager. From the other side of the table, where Tsubasa had decided to sit, Rinne felt the intensity of a jealous glare. Without meaning too, a certain smugness bubbled in the sort-of shinigami's chest. But Rinne quickly stomped the mental feeling deep into the corners of his mind, locking it away. It wouldn't do for any more ugly feelings to arise.

No, at the moment, all Rinne could think of was how gentle and cool those hands seemed to be. He couldn't help but tense as those fingers threaded through his hair and then, after what seemed like eons later, retreated backwards. Subconsciously, Rinne mourned the loss of her touch, then frowned and shook off that thought as well.

He had been having too many visions of the same subject. It was too dangerous to dwell on these rampant feelings. They would hurt someone and it was hopeless to try to pursue someone so high above his social status, someone who he bothered needlessly day-to-day with his paranormal problems.

Rinne tried to look distant, but with the soft looks Sakura Mamiya seemed to be giving him as she applied some balm onto his bruise, it was proving to be a difficult task, one he wasn't sure he even wanted to try anymore.

"There," Sakura Mamiya said to him, after what seemed like forever. She stepped back from him and put away the balm in her first aid kit.

Releasing a breath of air he hadn't even known he was holding, Rinne looked away from her, uncertain of what to say now. The intense glare he was receiving from Tsubasa seemed to heat up in jealously, all while Sakura, unaware of the brewing tension, moved to sit beside Rinne at the table once she had put away the first aid kit.

Then, to Rinne's relief, Mrs. Mamiya walked in with a tray of cookies and a pot of tea. The teapot, Rinne observed, was also painted with pink sakura blossoms. He smiled at this.

"Here you are, Tsubasa-kun, Rokudo-kun. I hope you enjoy your tea," Kaori bubbled happily. In her haste to serve them, she nearly spilled tea on Tsubasa's pants. Luckily, Sakura had foreseen this and taken the tray of food from her mother. Sakura decided to take over the task of serving food and tea for her mother at that point.

"Thank you very much, Mrs. Mamiya," Rinne bowed his head, while Tsubasa excitedly told her the same response. "It's delicious."

"Would you like to stay longer for dinner as well?" she offered pleasantly, "It's been so long since I've had to treat Sakura-chan's friends, any of them, to a good meal."

"Oh yes I'd love too!" Tsubasa agreed instantly. This would be his chance to get closer to his Mamiya-san! What an ideal opportunity.

"Well… I…," Rinne mumbled, unsure of how to proceed. On one hand he couldn't pass off the chance of free food, on the other hand he really didn't want to impose on Sakura Mamiya's mother. Sakura's opinion mattered a lot to him. He would rather she didn't see him as a freeloader. Also, a darker part of him, really didn't want to leave Sakura alone with her mother in the company of that exorcist.

"Please stay," Sakura, as if reading his mind, told him. "We can give you that electric fan you needed after dinner and you missed some school today. I could review through the notes with you. In fact, why don't you and Tsubasa-kun stay to study with me?"

"What a lovely idea! You could start a study group! You could bring them over every day!" Kaori nodded happily, "I'll go get dinner started!"

With that, she dashed off to the kitchen, narrowly banging her elbow against the wall.

Rinne still felt uncertain, on the precipice of yes and no. Obviously, Tsubasa, in all the excitement, had taken Sakura's offer. The feelings locked in Rinne's heart lurched in disgust at the thought of the two of them together. He wanted to stay, if only to study with (guard) Sakura. But he didn't have any of his homework with him—

"Don't worry about it, Rinne-sama! I'll use the spirit way to get your notes," Rokumon, who had woken up, said helpfully. "You should stay and get closer to your friends."

The sort-of shinigami raised his eyebrow. What Rokumon was really saying was—you should stay and get closer to Sakura-sama. Typical manipulative cat.

Well, who was he to refuse something that was free?

"Alright, I'll stay."

* * *

It was one of the best decisions he had ever made in his life, Rinne concluded.

Dinner had been great. Never before had Rinne eaten so many delicacies—breaded pork, shitake mushroom soup, steamed rice and steamed bok choy. He had even enjoyed the servings of fruit afterwards, fresh melon and strawberries. Of course, Rinne had never forgotten his manners, making sure to savour every bite of dinner he could.

Rokumon had gotten his own little plate of milk and some fish flakes at the foot of the table. Mrs. Mamiya loved to coo over how adorable he was. The little black cat puffed up under all of the praise, purring contently when she rubbed his belly. The black cat was going to be spoiled at this rate, Rinne thought dryly with some fondness.

Tsubasa and Mrs. Mamiya were very talkative during dinner, hitting it off in conversation from the first sentence. They spoke of everything from his father's business to flower arranging. Tsubasa was intent on learning as many childhood instances of Sakura's life possible. Mrs. Mamiya was only too eager to talk about her pride and joy. Silently, Rinne also listened in, curious to know what Sakura Mamiya was like before he had met her. He was satisfied to know that she was the same as ever, the same good Sakura Mamiya.

Mrs. Mamiya also tried to include Rinne in her discussions, though Rinne was naturally monotonous and, as Tsubasa usually put it, cold. Kaori still managed to get some smiles from him, and she inwardly gushed at how polite he was. Tsubasa, in attempt to one-up his rival, tried to outdo him in being more of a gentleman. Rinne merely shrugged it off.

What he liked most about dinner was that he got to talk seriously with Sakura Mamiya, and yet not so seriously at the same time. They didn't often talk in class, and if they did, it was about homework or spirits. Even when it was lunchtime, Sakura often spent it with her friends Miho and Rika. Sometimes Tsubasa would drag her off. It was nice just to relax and talk about everything and nothing.

He learned Sakura's favourite colour (blue), animal (dolphin) and pastimes (taking walks, swimming, cooking) all in one day. He had never known it before, and even though these things seemed so trivial, they somehow took on some significant importance in his heart. He found himself wanting to learn more and to share more too. Sakura also asked him many questions, laughing and smiling at his answers fondly. Best of all, the exorcist seemed too caught up in stories told by Sakura's mother to interrupt them.

Rinne had never known how much he craved this kind of attention, this kind of setting, until he had it.

When it was over, Rinne offered to wash dishes. Kaori was about to decline when Sakura insisted that she and Rinne take over. Sakura didn't want her mother accidentally injuring herself doing the chore.

"The only thing she can do without hurting herself is cooking," Sakura smiled to herself.

"I think she's very nice," Rinne told her, handing her a plate after he had washed it with soap.

She took it to dry with a towel, "Thanks, Rokudo-kun. I'm glad that you and Tsubasa-kun are ok with my mother."

While scrubbing a cup, Rinne hesitated before he asked, "Why don't you often invite people over?"

Sakura's face fell into a sad look.

Instantly, Rinne spluttered, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to pry, I—"

"No… you're not prying… I… I'll tell you someday, I promise," Sakura told him. "I'd rather not talk about it right now."

Worry raced through Rinne's mind, but he nodded. Everyone needed their privacy after all. Plus, Sakura Mamiya promised to tell him later. He trusted in her word.

"Good," Sakura said, after scrutinizing his face for a while.

Blinking, Rinne asked, "What is it? Did I have something smeared on my cheek?"

"No," Sakura laughed softly, "it's just, today your face has been a bit red. I was wondering if it was a fever or something but I couldn't feel any temperature earlier today. But it looks like the redness is gone."

Surprised, Rinne fought the urge to blush.

Afterwards, when they finished cleaning the dishes, Sakura and Rinne returned to Tsubasa in the living room. They pulled out their books and began to study. First, Sakura and Tsubasa took turns explaining the lessons that Rinne had missed in the morning to him. Sakura's teaching style was calm and concise while Tsubasa's teaching style was enthusiastic and actually very engaging. They were both very good tutors, Rinne thought to himself.

Once the reviewing was finished, the three of them worked together to get through the day's math problems and science equations. Constantly, Sakura and Rinne bumped elbows together accidentally, but Rinne found it wasn't annoying. He kind of liked it, having this constant touch nearby.

By the time it was eight, they had finished their work and were munching contently on Mrs. Mamiya's delicious cookies. Rokumon, who had returned to his original form when Mrs. Mamiya had exited the room, remarked with affection that the cookies were cat-shaped. He was delighted.

"Do you both want to come over to study tomorrow?" Sakura asked them.

"Are you kidding? I'd love too!" Tsubasa answered right away.

Rinne smiled, studying together with them was sounding very good. "Of course."

Then, after Mrs. Mamiya gave Tsubasa and Rinne several bowls of leftovers and cookies to enjoy for later, they both thanked her and walked their separate ways. It had been a good day.

* * *

"Did you hear? They say that the janitor was haunted by a ghost last night!"

"Yeah, I heard it spoke to him and told him that it would never forgive him or something," Rika said excitedly to Miho.

The other girl nodded vigorously, "It happened in the stairwell on the east wing, between the third and fourth floor."

Listening in on their conversation, the first thing Rinne did was seek out Sakura's gaze next to him. She nodded and then they both got up to walk out of the classroom. Rinne signalled to Tsubasa on the way out. He caught the signal, in the midst of a conversation with another student, and then excused himself as well.

The three of them went down the hallway together, in an unspoken routine which had developed between them very quickly over time.

"So, do you think this ghost is real?" Sakura asked the sort-of shinigami

"I haven't been able to sense any activity…," Tsubasa also told him. "What about you?"

"I haven't sensed anything either," he admitted. "But we should investigate the area just in case."

They all gave affirmative glances and then rushed to the stair well. The scene of the crime was vacant, as many students had heard the rumours and were avoiding the place like it was the source of a plague. As soon as they walked in, they felt chills, but no ghostly auras.

There was nothing on the floor, it was clean. No footsteps or evidence littered the scene at all.

Rinne frowned, "Guess it was just a rumour."

Tsubasa and Sakura looked on warily, "Yeah… probably."

But it still didn't get rid of the strange feeling.

* * *

The end of the week came. And soon it was Monday once more. Rinne, Tsubasa and Sakura had soon fallen into the habit of meeting up at Sakura's house after school to study. When Rinne needed to do an exorcism, Sakura told her mother they were going to the library, and they all went to help him. In fact, Rinne was finding it hard to remember a time when he hadn't just walked straight home with Sakura and Tsubasa to go study. It was as if he had always done this.

Tsubasa had grown less annoying to him and he continued to enjoy talking to Sakura Mamiya during dinner. He looked forward to that opportunity the most, because somehow, it felt very fulfilling. He couldn't quite describe it to himself, but Rinne treasured those moments. They made his heart soar and he felt truly happy.

He had forgotten about the reason he had first gone to Sakura Mamiya's house in the first place. But by Monday, he had remembered again, due to a certain annoying Rika, and the unpleasant feelings returned.

"So Sakura-chan, are you going to the dance with anyone?" Rika asked her.

Rinne, who had been working on his essay for the next class, looked up warily, recalling Tsubasa's proposal and all of the ugly feelings that accompanied it. He listened in discretely and had a feeling that the exorcist was doing the same.

Sakura's reaction was amusing and frustrating at the same time, "Dance? What dance?"

Rinne put a hand against his forehead in exasperation.

"Geez, Sakura-chan. Have you forgotten? Ogata-sensei announced it last week. There's going to be a dance in three weeks. Are you going?"

"Yeah, tell us," Miho joined into the conversation.

Looking over to the side, Sakura shrugged, "It's not really the type of thing I get excited over. I guess I might go if someone asks me… but I'll have to think about it…"

His heart swelled in relief, and Rinne refused to admit why.

"What?" A loud voice exclaimed behind them, as Tsubasa stood up and marched straight up to Sakura's desk, "But I remember that I asked you last week to the dance. Aren't you going to go with me?"

"Whoa! You asked Sakura-chan to the dance? Why didn't anyone say anything sooner?" Miho wondered.

That was probably because they had all forgotten about it in the distraction of the study groups, Rinne thought silently.

But more importantly, he needed to see Sakura's reaction to the whole thing…

She blinked. "Oh… right… you did ask me that…"

Tsubasa's face fell. He knew that Sakura was a space case but he had hoped she would remember. Then again, he had also forgotten until now too… so he couldn't really say anything…

"I'd really love it if you'd come to the dance with me, Mamiya-san. As my date," he added at the end, blushing and feeling very nervous.

Rinne's heart raced as he awaited Sakura's answer, not even bothering to pretend to write his essay anymore.

"Well I… Can I please think about it first, Tsubasa-kun? I'll let you know my answer by the end of the week, I swear," Sakura vowed.

In disappointment Miho and Rika shook their heads, muttering something about Sakura being typical.

"But why?" Tsubasa bit his lip. He wanted to be understanding, but he also wanted to know why Sakura wanted to wait first.

Sakura averted her gaze, "I'm…not sure. But when I figure it out, I'll tell you, ok?"

She smiled at him so prettily that Tsubasa couldn't find it in him to continue being let down. "Alright. I'll wait for your answer then."

Rinne released the breath he had been holding.

Then, someone burst through the door, screaming.

"The boards! The chalk boards!"

All three of them—Sakura, Rinne and Tsubasa—exchanged worried glances before looked up at their classrooms and understanding just want was going on.

The chalk was floating… and writing something on the board in English, a language that Rinne was rusty at compared to his Japanese.

In horror the class observed as the chalk wrote _D. D. R._

Frowning Tsubasa murmured, "D.D.R.? As in the game? That doesn't make sense, why would—"

The chalk continued to write, right underneath the letterings. It was an acronym of some sort for _Dance... Die... Revenge..._

Many girls in the class and some boys too, began to scream and sob, "Die? Revenge? What is this? What does it mean?"

" _It means, if you go to the dance… you will die. I will have my revenge,_ " spoke a disembodied voice.

No one else in the classroom heard, save for Sakura, Rinne and Tsubasa. They all stared at the shape of a girl, one who was obscured and couldn't be seen too clearly. It was as if she was being covered by fog.

The girl caught their gazes, and then leered at them.

" _I'll kill anyone who goes to this dance_."

Green eyes flashed.


	3. Chapter 3

Sayuri Minamoto was having the time of her life. Recently her long term boyfriend had dumped her for another girl and she had been devastated. Her neighbours constantly complained because her nightly wailings about 'that damn bastard' wouldn't cease after two o' clock in the morning. When she went to work her friend commented on her dishevelled appearance and her zombie-like face. To say that her life had gone downhill as a result of the break-up would be understating it.

Tonight she had nothing to worry about. Because of a brightly lit letter that had been delivered to her door from a secret admirer the aspiring lawyer was having an amazing date with her new love Ikki. At the time that Sayuri had received her love letter she had been a bit doubtful; since when did something so cliché happen in her life? But when she met _him_ , Ikki, she had been sold.

The man had a sculpted body like Adonis, his smile was a killer shine and he had the most beautiful and oddly coloured orange eyes. Even his hair was strange, yet so enticing, a light blue colour, spiked at the edges to make him look more feral. But Sayuri thought it was sexy. She really liked it when he wore tight shirts and kissed her like _that_. Yup, this date was going great and she wouldn't miss it for the world.

They were holding each other tenderly (making out intensely) in an ally several blocks from the bank. Sayuri had no idea why in the world Ikki wanted to meet her there, but if he was in to that dark and dangerous love thing, then who cared? She'd go along with it if only to taste his lips again and to see him look at her like she was the most valuable thing in the world. After several long moments of lip contact, Ikki pulled back leaving Sayuri breathless.

He smiled charmingly at her once more, making her sigh with pure adoration. "Babe… I was wondering… I want to buy you a beautiful necklace… but I don't have quite enough money for it. Could you…," he lowered his voice so that it was deep and husky, "lend me some? Just a bit? I promise I'll pay you back…"

"Oh honey!" Sayuri crooned, clapping her hands together, "Of course I will! Anything for you! Just a second, I'll go run to the bank. Can you hold my purse please?"

When Sayuri looked up, her boyfriend had mysteriously vanished. For several weeks she would mourn the loss of yet another potential husband, only to hook up with yet another man with brightly coloured hair (she seemed to have a fetish for it).

Ikki, on the other hand, was not so lucky in his fate. He had been hauled by the cuff of his shirt from the sky and then thrown onto the roof of a tall apartment building. The view from there was wonderful—a complete map of downtown Tokyo. Of course, Ikki had more pressing matters to deal than how beautiful the scenery was.

Currently, he was staring up at the vengeful face of a certain female shinigami. Ageha glowered at him, "So… _damashigami_ , you thought you could get away with toying with a girl's feelings did you? And then running off with her savings?"

Cover blown, Ikki was beginning to sweat coldly, "No! I'm not a damashigami, I was just… uh… well—"

The scythe cut into his spiky hair, shaving him half-bald. Ikki now looked as if he was trying to be a gangster, and failing. His petrified face did nothing to earn Ageha's mercy. In fact, it merely fed her anger. The girl hit him hard with the end of her blade, watching in satisfaction as he grunted in pain, a card from the damashigami company showing his true identity falling out of his pocket.

Ageha smirked, "You shouldn't have lied to me. And now I'm going to make sure you'll never see the human world again."

As she drew closer Ikki was beginning to realize that maybe it hadn't been such a good idea to upset her after all.

His screams could be heard for several more hours after that before he was thrown into a shinigami prison in the otherworld.

Ageha, in the meantime, sped off to find her next victim—er, assignment. The shinigami was beginning to crave her crush Rinne's presence once more. She wanted to see him again very badly; the thought had been growing in her every day, like a craving to a drug addict.

"Oh Rinne…," Ageha sighed in ecstasy. "If only I could help you with an exorcism again… Hey wait," she paused, sensing something strange. "This feels like the presence of a ghost… though its very faint, and weak. For some reason… it kind of doesn't feel like a ghost at all… that's weird."

The female shinigami hovered quietly in the mid air, trying to pinpoint the location. It was difficult to do so, as the 'signal' seemed to switching on and off like a very badly connected radio. She was beginning to get a headache when finally—for a half-second—she found the general source.

Her face brightened, "It's coming from Rinne's school!"

Well, this would be interesting.

 **-3- Uneasy Alliances**

"You can't just kill anyone who goes to the dance! Mamiya-san and I are going to have a fabulous date there; a ghost will just ruin the atmosphere!" Tsubasa lamented loudly.

Everyone in the class stared at him oddly, while Sakura blinked and Rinne fought the urge to strangle something, mainly the headstrong exorcist.

"Did he just say 'kill'?" asked one of their classmates.

"Uh, no... he meant, you can't just... _bill_ anyone who goes to the dance! It's an atrocity to monopolize money from poor high school students," Rinne proclaimed just as loudly.

 _He's talking about his own situation,_ the entire class thought at once, _isn't he?_

They gave the broke shinigami pitying gazes before returning to the spectacle of the haunted chalkboard. Several girls in the class were still clinging to each other, though in less fright. Some of their classmates began thinking up conspiracy theories.

Tactlessly, Rika, who was still showing interest in this what Rinne had said, whispered to Miho, "I wonder if Rokudo-kun ever feels angry about his situation. Being that poor, unable to go to the dance with the girl you like, that's harsh."

At that moment, Sakura's traitorously keen ear heard the last sentence. She tensed at the words "girl you like" thoughtfully. She knew that Rinne wasn't interested in things such as dances... but what if he had lied? He was an ordinary high school student like everyone else. Maybe he had been hiding his true feelings so as to not bother her. He was that kind of person.

For some reason, she felt a bit cold and shaken at that thought and she tried to ignore it.

She couldn't just expect a week of study sessions to bring them closer together. She couldn't just expect him to trust her wholeheartedly as if they had known each other for years. It was only natural that there would be things that he wouldn't tell her.

"Yeah, I know...," Miho nodded sympathetically. Both girls broke away from the trio to discuss the latest gossip.

Sakura frowned to herself once more, before putting her thoughts to the back of her mind and resuming her attention to the ghosts that was in their classroom.

The ghost had long hair, which was tied in pigtails. Her eyes were cold and glowing green while she wore a long flowing dress that was a mix of western and eastern styles. The top of the dress had a traditional kimono's look to it, embroidered with flowers, while the lower have of the dress seemed to turn into a western style evening dress which brought attention to the ghost's waist and legs. Her sleeves were fitted around her arms and made of lacy material. A big bow was located on the back of the dress.

Oddly enough, one of her shoes was missing, while the one that remained was a classic high heel which looked like it had been rained on, stepped on and thrown into the dirtiest lake imaginable. What was more concerning was the bruising around the girl's neck... as if she had hung herself. But, Sakura reminisced sadly from her previous experiences with the supernatural, it could've been the case. However, Sakura's attention was mostly fixated on the much gruesome details of the girl's body... it seemed as if she had been stabbed multiple times and thrown into a blender.

Her scars were wide open, allowing Tsubasa, Rinne and Sakura to see the innards which used to flow with blood. The sight made caused a shiver to flow up Sakura's spine, but she held her ground. In her old neighbourhood, when her father was alive, Sakura had unfortunately seen worse things floating around. What saddened Sakura the most was the girl's age... The ghost couldn't have been any older than seventeen.

"Who are you?" Rinne asked calmly, as she would expect from him. He showed no fear.

It was as if Rinne had taken out a wooden stick and stabbed her in the stomach for the ghost started to writhe in the air, spinning around in circles around the classroom. Papers fluttered around and chairs moved forward. Their classmates, obliviously, assumed it was a draft from the window (though Miho pointed out that the windows were closed).

" _My name? My_ name? _I have no name! They took it from me! They took it from me! Only_ he _called me by my name... but he killed me! He killed me!_ " The ghost screeched, putting her head in her arms as her torn dress fluttered violently behind her.

Sakura felt a pang in her chest and her eyes went wide. "Who killed you?"

("Who is Sakura-chan talking too?" Rika wondered.

"She likes talking to herself, remember?" Miho reminded her. "Then again, so do Rokudo-kun and Jumonji-kun. They make an odd trio."

With that, they returned to gossiping.)

The ghost stopped so suddenly that Sakura pondered on the theory that maybe the ghost was possibly bi-polar because the temperature of the room suddenly dropped rather low to a chill. Sakura felt her cheeks becoming rosy and her hands slightly numb. She shivered just as the ghost bellowed, " _I'll never forgive him! I'll never forgive him for what he's done! And for that, I'll make sure no one else gets to enjoy a dance at Saikon High again!_ "

Ghost girl's hands clenched and she flew towards Sakura so suddenly that she didn't have time to move. Sakura had been more focused on the fact that there seemed to be some sort of bluish crystal coming from the girl's fists and before she could think more on it, Rinne had pushed Sakura into the desk, his body covering hers. He put his arms on both sides of her, shielding her from what was actually a cold gust of snow which covered him from head to toe.

Rinne sneezed against Sakura's cheek, his face scrunched up in a rather adorable pout. She would've smiled thoughtfully if it weren't for the fact that ghost girl was preparing to throw another snowy blast at them.

"Rokudo-kun!" Sakura tugged at his sleeve and pulled him down. He nearly fell on top of her, for the top of his chin banged against her forehead. They both looked at each other and apologized quickly (Rinne was red again; she made a mental note to ask again if he had a fever. This was getting serious.) before peeking up to see what damage had been done. (Off to the side, Tsubasa was spluttering angrily about his Mamiya-san being taken advantage of... or something like that.)

The top of the desks were covered in a fine sheet of snow, much to their surprise. Sakura gingerly placed her hand on it and pulled back, finding that it was extremely cold. She shared a bewildered glance with Rinne. Was it possible for spirits to have additional otherworldly powers? Was this normal behaviour?

"Whoa, what happened? The desks are icy!" One of their classmates, a boy whose name slipped Sakura's mind at the moment murmured. He had large spectacles, so Sakura just labelled him glasses-kun. "And those desks are becoming icy too!"

The ghost was busy trying to freeze Tsubasa to death. The exorcist was running around the classroom while snowed over desk surfaces seemed to follow him, much to the amusement of the other students.

"Uh... well," Sakura said slowly.

"It was a science project. We messed it up," Rinne said with as straight a face as possible. Honestly, if that guy went and played poker, he would probably win.

The question was, would Glasses-kun believe such a blatantly illogical lie?

Glasses-kun folded his arms and nodded, "Oh. Ok." Then he walked away.

 _I can't believe he bought that..._ Both Tsubasa and Sakura thought at the same time.

"We have to get out of the classroom. She's putting the entire class in danger," Rinne said in a low tone to them both.

"Alright, but we need to bait her then... it's the only way she'll follow us..." Tsubasa yelped, dodging another snowy blast from the ghost.

"She hates dances, so that means she'll go after anyone who is going," Sakura said quickly to Rinne.

Rinne's eyes widened, "Brilliant idea, Sakura Mamiya!"

And before Sakura could say anything else in response, he had grabbed her left hand and put it in between his. His hair was still matted with snow, but it made him seem more masculine somehow. Sakura suddenly became very aware of every strand of hair he had, of the hues of his face and of how nice his hands felt around her own. He bowed low until their noses were a few inches apart and met her shocked violet eyes intensely for one moment before he spoke the words that would change their relationship forever.

"Sakura Mamiya, will you go to the dance with me?"

Never once did those red eyes shy away from hers.

Her mouth hung open for a second and she found herself in the rare position of being speechless, her mind blank of any thought.

"Oh my god, Rokudo-kun actually went and asked Sakura-chan to the dance!" Rika said excitedly to Miho.

"Wow... he has guts..."

By then, the entire class was bubbling and flocking around the two suddenly popular individuals. Tsubasa, still running around and trying not to get frozen, very nearly tripped and fell on the desk. "Rokudo, you traitor!"

The ghost, who had been focused on freezing the exorcist, now set her attentions on the odd pair. Her eyes narrowed dangerously.

It suddenly occurred to Sakura that this was merely a farce set up by Rinne to lure the ghost away from the classroom. It was the only possible (and very obvious) explanation, though she felt a slight twinge of disappoint that the request hadn't been made out of a genuine desire (wait, where had that sentiment come from?).

She smiled at him, "Yes, I'd love to."

For a minute, Sakura could have fooled herself into believing that the smile coming from Rinne was also genuine. But it could not possibly have been. This was business to him, so there was no reason to feel disappointment. They were just friends.

Ghost girl turned to them, breathing low. When she looked at them both, it felt as if daggers of ice had been plunged into their skin. It may have been Sakura's mind playing tricks on her, but she was sure that the lights were beginning to dim to a bluish hue and that all of the cold was now being centered on Rinne and herself.

Rinne squeezed her hand tightly, paying full attention to the bristling spirit. "That's perfect, Sakura Mamiya," he replied, keeping his voice as casual and formal as possible. But Sakura could hear the undercurrents of urgency beneath his words. "Why don't we skip the next class to spend the whole day together?"

Murmurs of appreciation and delight spread like wildfire among their fellow students as Rinne pulled Sakura out of the classroom, but Sakura and Rinne were way too engrossed in getting away from the enraged spirit to pay it any mind. The spirit's aura had turned colder than the waters in the Arctic Ocean and she had begun her pursuit after them.

"Hang on, Sakura Mamiya," Rinne said quickly as they dashed down the hallway, hands still intertwined.

Sakura nodded, thankful that they had baited the spirit out of the classroom. She had confidence that Rinne would come up with a plan to exorcise the ghost and put her to rest. Tsubasa, on the other hand, was a different concern...

"Rokudo, you damned player, get back here right now! I'm going to kill you!" The exorcist's voice rang down the hall as he ran like a mad man after them. In fact, judging from the homicidal fire burning in his eyes, Sakura wondered if he would be the bigger threat to worry about. What had Rinne done to make Tsubasa so upset anyways?

The ghost, who had swooped down the hallway, causing the lights she passed to blink out and freeze to ice, snarled as Tsubasa ran past her to the pair. She hissed at him and threw another torrent of icy air towards the exorcist, her pigtails twisting wildly behind her like snakes.

It was never good to provoke Tsubasa when he was enraged. The exorcist turned on his heels, having caught the signs of attack from the corner of his eye and pulled out his holy wire. With a roar, Tsubasa twisted his wire around the ghost girl and threw her against the windows.

She twisted and struggled against the confines of the wire but was nevertheless wound against planes of glass. The windows shattered into pieces all around, gaining attention from the neighbouring classrooms. Second and third year students peeked out curiously from their doors, awed at the sight of vandalism by the weird Jumonji.

"Whoa, what did he do that for? Was he role-playing or something?" someone wondered aloud.

"Take that, stupid ghost!" Tsubasa declared boastfully, "you're no match for a professional exorcist!"

("Now he's talking to himself!" Another upperclassman said.

Others began taking pictures with their cell phones.)

Snarling, the ghost hissed, her eyes resuming that green glow, much to Tsubasa's dread. His own anger faded quickly when the ghost rushed through the broken window, unfortunately dragging Tsubasa, who was holding the other end of the wire, with her. He yelped, howling loudly as his body was unwillingly soaring through the school yard towards the gates like a dog's chew toy.

Of course, the second and third year students were still taking pictures, thinking this to be a marvellous spectacle of some kind.

("He must be part of the film and stunt club," provided one girl.)

Meanwhile, only just making it out the main doors, Sakura and Rinne had made it outside. They stopped for a minute, checking to see if the ghost had followed and to catch their breaths. Only a little bit tired, they looked up at the same time, meeting each other's eye. This only seemed to trigger another fever for Rinne, who looked away quickly. Sakura wanted to recommend going back to the nurse's office after this ordeal was over.

Rinne continued to act as if nothing else had happened. He looked back towards the doors, eyes widening slightly when he saw only empty space.

"Where did the spirit go—"

Sakura's body went tense as her senses seemed to lurch urgently. She looked upwards, seeing a shimmering blur accompanied by a black one. Then, comprehending what it was, she pulled Rinne down, narrowly dodging another icy blast.

When she looked up again, she saw Rinne glowering up at the vision of the ghostly girl. Tsubasa, it seemed, was hanging a few inches from the ground, holding on to his wire which was looped around the ghost's waist. He stubbornly held on to the wire, hoping to bind the ghost down somehow, though Sakura could see that the effort was proving futile. The ghost was powerful, and judging from the patch of pavement which had been turned into an ice rink, her powers were growing stronger.

"Darn it, where's Rokumon when you need him?" Rinne muttered under his breath. Without his scythe, which was usually kept with Rokumon for safe keeping, he had little to work with against such a powerful opponent.

" _Revenge_ ," the ghost hissed, raising her hands towards the pair, " _you will die before you can dance!_ "

Without any warning, Rinne yanked Sakura into his chest and threw his haori of the underworld over them both. His right arm was wrapped under her right shoulder, curled securely around her waist. Their legs tangled together momentarily before Rinne shifted their bodies so that they were meshed together more comfortably side-to-side. In the moment, Rinne had slipped his other hand into the left sleeve and was now hovering above the ghost girl, holding Sakura against his side. The haori rested comfortably around both of their shoulders, as if it were made for them.

Sakura's heart rate accelerated so much that she could hear her heart beating in her ears. She was grateful to Rinne for saving her once again and wondered worriedly if having her by his side would slow him down.

"Mamiya-san, Rokudo-kun!" Tsubasa cried out from below. "Are you alright?"

 _And what was the big idea behind pulling Mamiya-san against you, Rokudo?_ Tsubasa's inner thoughts yelled out. The more rational part of the exorcist, one that had been growing since he and Rokudo were getting to know each other on more amicable terms, pointed out that if Rinne hadn't done so, Sakura would've been hurt. He knew Rinne better than that.

"We're fine!" Sakura answered. She wanted to reassure their friend that they weren't in any danger. But by the looks of things, and how she was probably holding Rinne back by merely being there, they were.

She frowned. Rinne would probably be able to fly quickly to Rokumon and back if she and Tsubasa could distract the ghost, even for a moment. They would exorcise the spirit more quickly this way and she'd be useful to Rinne instead of mere baggage weighing him down.

Right, it was decided.

"Rokudo-kun," Sakura said firmly, surprising the other, "drop me. I'll be bait for the spirit. You find Rokumon-chan."

It felt like a spasm had run through Rinne's body (Sakura would know, being side by side with him) as he retorted sharply, "Sakura Mamiya, don't be ridiculous. I will _never_ endanger your life in favour of my job as a shinigami."

She frowned, feeling slightly frustrated, "But if you don't—"

 _I'll be holding you back,_ was what she had wanted to say before Rinne flew up suddenly, taking Sakura with him.

Narrowly, they had avoided another icy blow and were now running away towards the abandoned school building, the ghost (and Tsubasa who was still hanging on to that wire) in hot pursuit.

"Just hang on to me, Sakura Mamiya!"

They dived down towards the roof, where Rinne's room was located. Sakura wanted to open her mouth to protest when she remembered that the haori of the otherworld made its wearer (or in this case, wearers) as corporal as spirits. They weren't going to crash, instead they would phase through the roof.

The roof was getting closer, the air rushed up against their faces making the haori flutter violently behind them. The grip Rinne had around her waist closed so much that Sakura felt he could've crushed her if not for his control. She closed her eyes, still unsure of what it would feel like to phase through a roof when—

The spirit flew just in front of them. Sakura's breath caught. The ghost girl grinned manically as Rinne reached a halting stop, trying to swerve in a different direction. But it was too late, the girl's hands were already raised and that snowy aura was emerging from her palms. Tsubasa screamed out a 'no' from the top of his lungs and Sakura tried to think frantically of what they could do to escape.

"Not so fast! Take this!" A voice from up above yelled enthusiastically. They only just noticed the shadow covering them.

A white and pink blur moved in between the ghost and the pair, wielding a heavily bow and pink-decorated scythe. Prettily tied skull grenades slipped from the figure's fingers, hitting their target straight on. The shinigami girl smiled vindictively, raising her scythe when the ghost girl screamed and writhed from the impact of the grenades.

Ageha managed to slice into the ghost girl's stomach with her blade. The shinigami girl's looked wild and every bit like a dangerous warrior.

As she did so, Tsubasa, taking his chance, had thrown up his sacred ashes. The combined attack of the scythe, grenades and sacred ashes made the ghost girl holler in pain. The ghost snarled her cries like something inhumane. It looked as if she were going through the worst torture imaginable.

And just when everyone thought she was going to be purified, like any normal spirit should have been, the ghost girl slipped out of Tsubasa's wire, looked more transparent than when they had first met her. Tsubasa fell on the roof top, his wire following after him. Her image flickered violently, like an old eighties film. She glowered and pointed a finger at Ageha, Rinne and Sakura, but her gaze told them that her words were meant for all four of them.

" _I'll make you pay_."

Then she vanished.

Silence tied the four of them as only one thought raced through their minds: what the hell had that been about?

* * *

"Gah! Rinne-kun, I was so worried about you! Are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?" An insistent chattering, which had latched itself to Rinne's arm, was saying.

Rinne had flown Sakura down to the rooftop after the ghost had disappeared. A very worried Tsubasa greeted them, bombarding Sakura with questions about her safety and even inquiring about Rinne. When he knew that they were safe, a rather eager shinigami girl had interrupted the trio's exchanges and attached herself to Rinne's arm.

From the expression on Rinne's face, it seemed like he would rather drown in a pond than answer. Rather monotonously, he replied, "I'm fine. It's just another exorcism. We'll get it next time."

He attempted to get her off of him, but she was as clingy as a leech.

If anything, Rinne's reply seemed to encourage Ageha's antics even more. Her eyes lit up with stars.

" _We_?" Ageha squealed with delight, "oh yes, Rinne-kun! You and I will definitely catch that spirit together!"

For some reason, when Ageha had said that, Sakura's heart felt as if it had been crushed. She frowned, looking at Rinne and Ageha intently. It was clear that Ageha had romantic feelings for Rinne. She had known it for a while. It wasn't as if Rinne had ever implied that he was interested in anyone. He had made his feelings clear about 'frivolous' things like that.

She smiled, "I'm sure you two will make a great team."

They all stared at her—Tsubasa with a mix of pity and anticipation, Ageha with glee and Rinne with something akin to the utmost horror.

"No!" Rinne said loudly, "Sakura Mamiya, you don't understand. When I said 'we,' I meant the _three_ of us, Jumonji, you and I. Ageha-san was not included."

"Eh?" Ageha stepped back from him as Sakura blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"It's true," Rinne went on formally, "Sakura Mamiya and I are going to go to the dance together in order to lure the spirit out and exorcise her. It's part of the job, after all."

To prove his point, he even held up their hands, which Sakura noticed, had actually never let go each other through out the entire ordeal since Rinne had 'asked' her out. She wondered why she had never realized up until now that they were still holding hands. It explained why Rinne had pulled her close and put the haori over both of them rather than just putting it on himself and then flying Sakura up separately. He had already been holding her hand in the first place. Besides, it would've been odd to see a girl flying up in the air alone.

(Though it had been odd to see Tsubasa hanging a few inches above the ground holding a wire too, but there was really no logical explanation for that. The students at Saikon High merely took all the weirdness in stride.)

" _ **What?**_ " Ageha exploded. She had only heard a few select keywords out of Rinne's explanation and was already overreacting. "Rinne!" she burst into tears, crying into her palms, "I thought that you and I had something special!"

"Er, which reminds me, Sakura Mamiya and I have to go talk alone for a second, see you later!"

With that, the sort-of shinigami ran off with a very confused Sakura in tow.

"Come back here, _right now_!"

* * *

When they were several meters away from the school (as well as murderous shinigami women and maybe even exorcists too) Rinne stopped a few blocks from park. There was a small playground to their left and several tall trees to provide shade upon the toddlers who were playing in the sand. It was a nostalgic sight to see so many children swinging on the swing set and going down the slide. As the wind blew through the grass, Sakura couldn't help but reminisce that this was a park she often walked through when she was a little girl.

Rinne finally let go of her hand, and she noticed, because an ache welled up inside her as if something was missing when he pulled away. Sakura dismissed this thought, she could think about it later.

Instead, she waited for Rinne to speak, because it was obvious that he had something important that he wanted to say. She didn't question why he had led her away from Ageha and Tsubasa. In fact, she felt a bit relieved, though she didn't know the reason why. She trusted Rinne and his judgement. There was always a good reason behind everything he did and she believed in that side of him more than anything.

"I'm sorry for getting you involved like this, Sakura Mamiya," came the quiet response.

Sakura blinked. "What are you apologizing for? You did nothing wrong."

"I shouldn't have asked you to the dance."

There was a deep pang in her chest, making Sakura wince. She quickly hid it behind a serene smile, waving it off as nothing.

"It's fine. I knew that you were only doing it to lure the ghost out."

Instead of the monotonous reply she had expected, Rinne had sort of toppled over, a bland and dejected expression on his face. As she moved closer she could've sworn she heard a mumbled 'I should've expected that response.'

"Rokudo-kun?" She inquired hesitantly, "Are you alright?"

"Yes. Of course," he said briskly. The same blank, yet observant, expression was on his face as always. "But…," his voice was careful, "are you sure you want to go to the dance with me, Sakura Mamiya…?"

She felt something inside herself soften—just what it was, she didn't know—and she couldn't help but laugh softly, "I'll be fine if I'm with you."

Those words… she really meant them.

She heard Rinne gasp and look away. His fists, she noticed, were shaking lightly (another symptom of the fever?) and it seemed as if Rinne was surpassing something.

Before Rinne could open his mouth and say something, Sakura continued on, "Anyways, more importantly we have to figure out who that ghost is and how to put her to rest."

Rinne fell over for a bit, before he straightened up and nodded. "I've never seen a spirit like her before… I'll have to ask Granny about ghosts which ice powers. We can look through the school newspapers in the library tomorrow for any record of the ghost, ask the teachers for information… We also have to keep people from discussing the dance openly or when the ghost returns to full strength again, she'll kill them."

His brow furrowed in worry.

Sakura reached for his hand again, "We can handle it."

"Yeah…"

They stood in silence, watching the families spending time at the park with fond smiles.

* * *

"How long are you going to keep crying like that?" asked the irritated Tsubasa Jumonji.

He wasn't paid enough for this, the exorcist concluded. In some way or another, he had ended up sitting together on a rooftop with a blubbering (and annoying) shinigami. To make matters worse, she was Rinne's fan girl.

Earlier, when Rinne and Sakura had made a run for it, Tsubasa had figured he'd follow them too. Unfortunately, Ms. Cry-my-eyes-out decided to choose that moment to latch onto the nearest object (i.e. a certain exorcist) and burst into tears. She had refused to let going of him, even wiping her nose on his sleeve. Great, he'd have to wash it later.

At first Tsubasa had reacted quite harshly.

("Damn it, woman, get off my arm!")

Of course, that had gotten him well acquainted with her scythe and he did not want to go through such a painful experience again. So Tsubasa was forced to be held prisoner and play comforter/tissue box. What fun.

"You—" she sniffed, "don't understand—" sob, "anything—" sniff again, "about women!"

"Well who would want to understand you?" He retorted.

This time he narrowly avoided her crazy blade, "You jerk! Get out of my way! Why am I up here with such a meanie like you anyways? I just got dumped by the guy who I like! Waaaaa!"

 _Oh dear god, make it stop_ , he pleaded silently.

"See?" Ageha blubbered, "You're making that face again. You think I'm pathetic and stupid. You don't care about my feelings. You probably think I'm annoying and weird, don't you?"

Despite how she looked at the moment, Tsubasa couldn't help but think that the venom and anger in Ageha's voice suited much better than tears. He rolled his eyes and pulled out a handkerchief, holding it out to her face.

Ageha made a face. "What?"

Tsubasa raise an eyebrow, "Are you going to use it or not?"

She scrunched up her face and scowled, "No way! I'm not touching anything that belongs to you, moron!"

"Oh just be quiet and take it!" He threw it at her. It landed on her head. "Those tear streaks are an eyesore!"

"Take it back! There's no way that I'm using it!"

"Too bad. I don't want it anymore!"

"Moronic fake exorcist."

"Annoying bumbling hag."

Sparks flew as they glowered at one another with pure loathing. After a long staring contest, they crossed their arms and turned away from each other at the same time, thinking thoughts of poison.

It was extremely isolating to be stuck on a rooftop with someone you couldn't stand.

After a few minutes, Tsubasa heard Ageha fidget nervously and he smirked to himself. Obviously he was winning in terms of who could put up with the awkward silence the longest. He mentally did a victory laugh before he allowed himself to relax a little bit in the hag's presence.

Of course the hag just had to break the silence again. She spoke so softly that for a moment Tsubasa doubted it was the same person speaking.

"Hey… did you know that… that Rinne-kun was… dating her?"

He tensed.

"They're not dating," he told her carefully. "If you were listening, you'd know that they were only saying so to lure the ghost out. Rokudo is like that."

He expected this to reassure the other shinigami girl or at least get her to be quiet. But instead, Ageha whipped around and grabbed Tsubasa around the shoulders, and shouted hysterically, "But it's not a farce! You can see it in his eyes! He really likes her! If they keep _pretending_ to be a couple, they could actually end up as one!"

"Get off me!" Tsubasa brushed her hands off, dusting off his black coat. "It's not like its any of my business, just leave it alone. Besides, the important thing is to protect our classmates from the—"

"But you like her—Sakura Mamiya-san."

Tsubasa froze.

"…Yeah I do… So what?"

Over the past week he had gotten fairly close to Rinne and Sakura. He liked the friendship they shared now. It was nice. He didn't want to ruin it by getting into a fight with Rinne over Sakura Mamiya. Not only would it make Sakura hate him, but there would be no point.

If Sakura was going to ever reciprocate his feelings, he wanted it to be out of a genuine desire.

But Ageha, it seemed, had other intentions. Her lips widened into a rather evil-looking smile (one that usually came before she hit Tsubasa with her scythe) and her eyes regained that passionate gleam. "Alright then… we have no choice but to try and break them up before they can start to fall in love!"

The question of _what_ was the thought that ran through Tsubasa's mind when Ageha grabbed him by the collar and flew into the air, dragging him with her.

"You, exorcist, are going to help me!"

He should've jumped off the roof when he had the chance, anything than participate in this uneasy alliance.

* * *

"Oh," Sakura spoke up, breaking their peaceful quiet.

"Hm?" Red eyes looked up to meet hers.

"Rokudo-kun, not to be a bother or anything but… how exactly are you planning to pay for everything for the dance? I mean, before, you were just going to abstain from participating…"

They stared at each other for several long minutes as the sort-of shinigami grew paler and paler.

Then, without any warning, he fell flat on his face.

"Rokudo-kun?"

Oh dear.

* * *

Heavy breaths filled the empty room, a room that no one had entered for years. There were stacks of boxes everywhere and dark shadows to hide their surroundings.

The ghost, weary, lay against an old crate of Italian masks, decorated with glitter and bright colours. Some had feathers or cat ears. Others had long noses and comical expressions. The ghost's eyes flickered for a minute towards the masks before she punched them, her hand running through the box.

She cursed to herself.

 _When I get my strength back… that couple is the first to go._


	4. Chapter 4

"Who's there?"

Quick footsteps echoed through the darkness. There was a loud clunk followed by a light thump, almost as if the culprit only had one shoe on. From the sound, it was probably a high heel, and it seemed as if the footsteps were coming from every direction.

Rinne shivered, trying not to lose his composure. He could barely see an inch beyond his face, surrounded by pure black. It was disconcerting, being unable to see his hands and feet, not knowing what was lurking in the shadows. He didn't even have his scythe and he didn't have the haori. It was just him.

The footsteps seemed to intensify and Rinne tensed, trying to pinpoint when a possible attack might come. This could be the work of a spirit or damashigami. Maybe Masato was up to his tricks again.

 _Poor, poor Rinne..._ Something seemed to drawl at him.

The voice (no, it couldn't be called a voice, it was too... too monstrous to be categorized as a voice) made him shiver again. But Rinne shook it off. His grandmother had always taught him to keep a straight face when facing the supernatural. Spirits took advantage of any emotions they could.

"You can't hide forever," Rinne said aloud, for the sake of saying _something_ , for the sake of hearing a human voice.

Now there was giggling, an eerie school girl's giggling which sounded oddly familiar...

 _Don't you just want to hate them all, Rinne Rokudo? Don't you tremble in envy when you see them walk home to their nice comfy homes, when you see them waste precious food, when you see them complain about their_ _exotic lives? Don't you want to break something when they complain about their parent's caring orders, when you yourself might as well have no parents at all?_

Horror flooded Rinne's mind. "You have no idea what you're talking about! Who are you? What do you want from me?"

The voice, whatever it was, laughed again.

 _Poor, poor Rinne..._

The shivers running down his spine intensified, his heart beat escalated and Rinne frantically turned around, as if the shadows might grab him, to see—

 _Don't you just want to kill them all?_

—Eyes. Glowing eyes.

 **-4- Sleeping Fears**

Rinne awoke, gasping for air, feeling covered in sweat. Instead of the perpetual darkness, he saw the light green of the trees, dipped in sunlight, the reddening sky and the sleepy sunset. Instead of the intense probing giggling, he heard the innocent laughter of children and pitter patter of their feet as they played tag and raced to the swings.

His heart was beating in his ears, threatening to escape from his body. Rinne tightened his fists and tried to think calmly, rationally. He tried to think calmly, rationally, regain control. The meditative exercises his grandmother had taught him came naturally, like breathing. With it, Rinne felt in control of his emotions again. He was calm. He was ok.

It was just a dream.

"Rokudo-kun... are you feeling better now?" Something cool pressed against his forehead which Rinne noticed, was a cool cloth. It felt nice against his skin and helped relax him some.

He looked over at Sakura, who was kneeling beside him, one hand holding up the cloth, the other clutching on to his wrist. Her brow was scrunched with concern and her clothes looked tousled from that. His tongue felt dry in his mouth as he straightened his back upwards and saw that he was lying on a park bench.

The street lamps were beginning to light up, signalling the approaching nightfall.

"How long was I out?" Rinne asked when he felt the ache in his limbs.

"An hour or so... I didn't check," Sakura answered.

Rinne stared at her incredulously. The evidence added up in his mind. He had fainted from shock and Sakura had been by his side for the past hour in the park. It was a very rude thing for him to do and he felt ashamed for letting Sakura witness it.

"I'm so sorry for fainting, Sakura Mamiya. It must have been a great inconvenience to you, taking up all your time... You must be cold! Here, I'll get my haori out—"

Sakura waved it off. "It's fine. But you didn't answer my question. Are you alright?"

"Yes," Rinne squeezed her hand, "I'm fine now."

"Good."

She moved her fingers and stood up. Rinne tried to tell himself that the absence of her skin was a good thing. It wasn't working so well. Darn it, he could feel another blush coming...

Abruptly, Rinne followed her and directed her to the sidewalk. "Let's get you come, Sakura Mamiya... I'm sure your mother is worried and that you must be tired."

"I'm sure that _you_ are more tired than I am, Rokudo-kun. Are you certain you'll be alright? I think you might be coming down with a fever... I saw some redness on your face at different times in the day, and then you fainted too... maybe you should stay at my house and sleep in the guest room just in case."

Rinne felt his mouth go dry as his heart began to thump intensely. She was always doing this, surprising him with the most touching and selfless actions. Sakura Mamiya was a truly kind person, who Rinne was beginning to see, that he would never be able to repay.

"We can go shopping tomorrow after school," she continued, her concern all the more endearing, "or even the weekend, if you're not feeling up to it, so—"

"Sakura...," he looked at her intently, then. "Thank you."

She looked at him strangely, so much so that he feared he had said the wrong thing. But when Sakura lowered her head and stepped up to walk in front of him, Rinne couldn't help the satisfaction that bubbled in his chest that he wasn't the only one of the pair who could blush so clearly.

* * *

"Where in the world have you two been? We've been worried sick!"

The two in question were standing in slight shock at the door, not because it was Sakura's mother who was yelling (Rinne couldn't imagine the woman doing so anyways) but because it was _Ageha_ at the door, and it was Ageha who had yelled at them, looking fierce as always. Behind her, Tsubasa stood rather sheepishly, scuttling his feet back and forth as if he were trying to pretend he didn't know her. Kaori was whistling in the kitchen, free of any worries.

"Um, Ageha-san, why are you at my house?" Sakura asked, trying not to be rude. "And for that matter, how is it that my mother can see you?"

"Whatever are you talking about, dear Sakura-chan?" The female shinigami said brightly, "We're best friends, _remember_?"

"Uh... but last time I checked, you—"

" _Just go along with it_ ," Ageha scowled at her.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Right."

"Would you mind moving out of the door way so that Sakura Mamiya and I can get in?" Rinne spoke up when he felt that they had stood awkwardly long enough. It was partially out of some annoyance from Ageha's voice and to prevent the heat from within the house from escaping into the cold. Heating bills were often expensive; Rinne remembered that much from when he lived with his grandfather. Plus, the heating bills were usually one of the reasons Rinne couldn't afford to live in an apartment.

He promised Sakura, in a quick whisper, that he would explain how Ageha could be seen. If he had deduced it correctly, the modified ribbon in her hair had something to do with it. Most likely it acted sort of like his haori did, except that it made shinigami corporal rather than invisible.

Strangely enough, Ageha's demeanour seemed to brighten as soon as Rinne had addressed her so bluntly. She had a rather obvious blush on her face as she nodded and acquiesced to Rinne's request. Tsubasa seemed to scoff at this and, Rinne noted with some interest, Ageha hastily kicked him in the foot, while still baring that annoying smile.

Tsubasa winced and then forced a strained smile onto his face, "I hope you don't mind that we went to your house ahead of you. We thought that the study session was still on but when you weren't there your mother insisted on inviting us in and told us to wait as long as we'd like for you."

"I hope you don't mind, Sakura-chan," Kaori called out from the kitchen. The sounds of sizzling food against the frying pan were comforting. Rinne felt himself relaxing (and slightly hungry). Maybe Sakura had gotten her soothing presence from her mother after all. "Tsubasa-kun and Rinne-kun are over so often that they might as well be considered family! And any girlfriend of Tsubasa-kun's is welcome too."

Her daughter smiled in understanding, though her mother couldn't see that, being in the kitchen. "Of course, it's alright, Mom. Rokudo-kun and Tsubasa-kun are welcome here anytime."

Rinne felt a great rush of affection for the Mamiyas. He promised to them quietly that he would do everything he could to repay their kindness.

"…but I didn't know you liked Ageha-san, Tsubasa-kun! When did you ask her out?" Rinne heard Sakura say to the other two in the living room. Apparently he had spaced out for a bit and everyone had left him standing in the hallway. He blushed a little (lately he had been spacing out, Sakura and him had this in common) and entered the room, nonchalantly sitting next to Sakura on the floor.

He was a little surprised to see Ageha draped on Tsubasa's lap, her arms looped around his waist while she wore a triumphant grin on her face. _Wait… how did this happen? What an odd picture_ , Rinne thought to himself. _Oh well, those two are odd enough already._

"Actually, Mamiya-san…," Tsubasa said with a touch of guilt in his voice. Rinne wondered if it was because he still had feelings for Sakura. That dark foreboding feeling bubbled in Rinne's chest again as he frowned. That was probably the case. Maybe Ageha and Tsubasa were using each other to make him and Sakura jealous.

But surprisingly the exorcist let an oddly quirked smile form on his face as he said, "Well, Ageha has always impressed me. She's quite the shinigami. I do admire how she handles her scythe and her stubbornness, even if it is annoying sometimes."

"Hey!" Ageha crossed her arms, "Well you're not exactly a saint yourself, Tsubasa- _kun_!"

Rinne raised an eyebrow while Sakura blinked at them.

"I'm really happy for you," Sakura smiled.

Tsubasa seemed a bit put-out. But forced on a grin nonetheless (Oh yes, Tsubasa was still crushing on Sakura, the cheat. Rinne stared at him darkly.)

Ageha puffed up her chest, "Of course you should be! Tsubasa is only the most eloquent gentleman you will ever meet!"

"I'm sure he is," Sakura replied dutifully.

The entire evening continued that way. Ageha seemed to enjoy boasting about her new boyfriend so much that it bored Rinne. He wasn't interested in how wonderful and ideal Tsubasa was as a lover. In fact, he could have lived without such details. What bothered him was how attentive Sakura seemed to Ageha's narrative. He wanted the girl's attention elsewhere, perhaps on the homework they were meant to be doing, or on the plan to exorcise the ghost.

Tsubasa seemed to be enjoying the attention, damn exorcist.

Rinne shook his head silently and berated himself. Sakura Mamiya was not his possession, she was her own person. Besides, there was no reason for her to pay any special regard for him. It was selfish and presumptuous for him to expect such a thing. They were merely classmates, and now good friends. She helped him with his exorcisms and he tried to protect her. She lived a life of luxury that he could never live up to, she probably felt sorry for him, even. That was the way their relationship worked.

So why did he feel such a pang of emptiness when he thought of them in that way?

* * *

Later that evening, Mrs. Mamiya proposed that they all stay over for a sleepover.

Their reactions were instantaneous and varied from person to person. For one thing, Sakura's relaxed expression had not wavered in the slightest (most things did not make her unsettled, Rinne found). She merely nodded, as if this were the norm and offered Ageha sanctuary in her room while she suggested that Tsubasa and Rinne take the guest room.

Of course, Ageha accepted immediately, while shooting Rinne a sultry look which he hoped dearly didn't mean what he thought it meant.

Tsubasa's reaction to the news was instant joy, which quickly morphed into a hot blush and mutterings about how this brought him one step closer to marriage. The sort-of shinigami suddenly had a strong inkling that the exorcist was not talking about his 'girlfriend.' No matter what Ageha and Tsubasa said about their so called 'relationship' Rinne did not believe him. It took a swindler to know one.

It was only reasonable that Rinne's response to the invitation was the only rational one.

"I'm sorry, but I couldn't possibly intrude on your hospitality any longer," he bowed his head polite.

It was true, of course. If Rinne had to deal with the Mamiya family kindness any longer he would cry tears of blood (and gratitude) all too soon. Besides, just the mere thought of sleeping in the same house as Sakura Mamiya made him feel bothered. His ears went red and Rinne couldn't help but feel it would inappropriate to sleepover. Surely only married couples did that…?

"I also must insist," Rinne continued, "that Tsubasa stay over at my place. Since I cannot accept that he will be sleeping in the same house as his girlfriend yet. It is inappropriate behaviour."

"What? I am a gentleman, how dare you—"

"Nonsense, Rinne-kun," Kaori clapped her hands together happily. "I know that you and Tsubasa-kun are polite young men. Besides you will be sleeping in the basement and I will be supervising. Nothing bad will happen because I trust you."

He couldn't help but splutter, "But—"

"No buts! Sakura chose you as her friends, after all. It's only natural that my daughter would make trustworthy companions, no? Now run along. I'm going to get the futons."

With that, she skipped away, not before banging her head on the ceiling, when she jumped too high. She sported the bump with dignity and continued on. Sakura only smiled warmly.

"I hope you all enjoy your stay," she said, clearly having no idea of what sort of things might run rampant in a young man's mind (cough, Tsubasa, cough).

Rinne wanted to protest again, but the earnest look on Sakura's face made him hesitate.

Maybe Kaori and Sakura were related after all. They were both rather unreasonable about this whole situation and they had this certain kind of power in their smiles.

"…Yeah," Rinne murmured quietly under Tsubasa and Ageha's excited cheers, "…thank you for your hospitality."

* * *

Kaori Mamiya did not question how Rinne and Tsubasa coincidently found their own clothing and sleeping bags to use in the basement. Truthfully, Rinne had used the spirit way to take himself and the exorcist to their respective home and pick up a few things. His own toothbrush had been among those things, as well as his futon. Tsubasa had taken a lot of unnecessary items (some of which included hair gel and a ridiculous looking tuxedo).

Ageha had also suspiciously brought her own luggage. Rinne was positive that it was filled with more glitter and ribbons than needed. He almost felt sorry for Sakura when he heard the female shinigami boasting about their (decided by Ageha only) make-up time, manicure sessions and pillow fight. He concluded that all females but Sakura Mamiya were insane and troublesome to deal with.

The only thing left was to prevent Tsubasa from doing anything rash and survive the night. It wouldn't be too difficult.

They were led into the basement, which was generally neat and spacious. The only thing the Mamiyas used the basement was for storage (some canned goods that Rinne wanted to drool over were stacked neatly against the wall, along with a toolbox and supplies for the beach). So that left a rather empty floor, shiny and polished recently. It was lined with wood tiles that Rinne couldn't help but admire. There was even a little window peeking at the top, giving the boys a small view of the driveway.

"Very nice," Tsubasa whistled with approval. Rinne agreed.

He bowed his head low to Kaori once more, "Thank you again for your hospitality. I hope we're not intruding."

"Nonsense," the woman ruffled his hair (after she hit her elbow against the side of the wall), "as I said before, I'm happy to do this for Sakura-chan's friends. Let me know if you need anything. Good night, boys. I'll see you at breakfast."

She shut the door, leaving Rinne in darkness with Tsubasa Jumonji. What fun.

"…So… want to paint each other's nails and throw pillows at each other?" Tsubasa said brightly.

Rinne stared at him.

Tsubasa sniggered, "Yeah didn't think so."

It took Rinne a moment to realize that the exorcist was actually joking with him. Slowly, he let himself smile as well.

* * *

"Rokudo?"

They were lying on the ground, on their tatami mats, a fair distance from each other but close enough to whisper and be heard. It was a bit disconcerting, sleeping in the basement, because of the stacks of cardboard boxes and various knick knacks against the walls. There was a small window which let in moonlight, but covered with a tattered curtain.

Initially Tsubasa had been tense about sleeping on the floor. Rinne assumed that the exorcist had the luxury of sleeping in a bed every night but was too proud to complain about the circumstances to Kaori. If Tsubasa had said anything negative about it, Rinne would have punched him. But thankfully the exorcist had some tact. Rinne didn't mind, he thought the room was very spacious and better insulated than the abandoned school building he resided in. In fact, he like the view, it was cozy.

At this point, the sort-of shinigami's eyes had been drooping and he was about to fall asleep. He was irritated that Tsubasa would choose this moment to speak up and responded, "This better be important."

He did not bother rolling over to face the other. It took too much effort in a state of looming fatigue. Instead, he focused on the dark hues of shadow cast against the ceiling and wondered if Sakura was asleep by now or if she had the similar problem of Ageha's chatter mouth keeping her awake.

"Do you like Mamiya-san?" The question came out.

Rinne felt himself still.

"What are you talking about? That's ridiculous," he heard himself say, but inside he couldn't help but feel something twist in a disgusting way. He wanted to vomit from the putrid feeling that seemed to rise in his throat when he spoke those words.

"Well you asked her out in front of the entire class. Why else would you—"

"I already explained that it was a ploy to lure the spirit towards us. As the first couple to capture her attention, she will be particularly fixated on Sakura Mamiya and myself. This will make it easier to locate and exorcise her for good," he explained tersely, with sleepiness slurring some of his syllables.

The exorcist was silent, for which Rinne was grateful. Maybe he'd be quiet and then the sort-of shinigami could rest peacefully.

"...So you're using her. Putting her in danger," came the cold reply. "I thought better of you, Rokudo."

That stung, more than a scythe plunged into his stomach.

Rinne responded heatedly, "Sakura Mamiya participates in my affairs out of her own free will. She has never been in any mortal danger before, I've always prevented that and I will continue to do so. I _will_ protect her, Jumonji, with my life. I would never put her purposefully in harm's way."

"Say that now, but this spirit is different. You and I both know it, _felt it_ , hell; Sakura Mamiya sensed its malicious aura before we could. Just... I don't want her to be hurt... just... promise me that you'll be careful," the exorcist finished with a whisper.

He stilled, suddenly touched by the sentiment. He had not expected such maturity from his rival. Then again, the past few weeks had made them friends, in a weird way. Perhaps Rinne shouldn't have judged him so harshly. Tsubasa was as capable of deep thought as anyone else (anyone sane that was).

"I will. I promise," said Rinne.

Then they were quiet, but it wasn't as awkward as it was before. Instead it was filled with a brotherly camaraderie and Rinne felt content, because he hadn't had any friends since elementary school. He realized how lonely being struck poor had made him, as well as being the strange red-headed boy in class. Ever since he had met Sakura Mamiya his world had slowly changed for the better and he was grateful for it.

He would make more of an effort to come on better terms with Tsubasa, it was the least he could do for the exorcist's trust.

Then a thought occurred to him.

"Are you not enamoured with Sakura Mamiya, anymore?" He asked. "I hadn't thought that you had any affections for Ageha-san of all people. She's just..." He paused, thinking of something polite to coin the shinigami girl as, but nothing except the words 'loud' and 'annoying' occurred to him.

To his surprise Tsubasa did not immediately answer. Instead he mumbled something about stubborn witches and then told Rinne that it was a long story and to go to sleep. With a shrug, Rinne acquiesced. There was something strange happening between Ageha and Tsubasa, but he wasn't idiotic enough to try and find out.

As his eyelids slipped shut, Rinne did not question the relief in his chest that formed whenever he thought that Ageha and Tsubasa were together, out of the way from interfering with his faux plans to date Sakura Mamiya. Nor did he question the part of him, buried in his mind that whispered that perhaps he was glad for reasons beyond the exorcism...

* * *

Something laughed, echoing around him.

They were little tiny giggles, high pitched and enough to make your spine crawl and your stomach quiver. Rinne felt the laughs rush into his head and out. He shivered and glanced at his surroundings but saw nothing but pure black.

He suddenly wondered where Sakura Mamiya was, if she was safe and what had happened to the others.

"Hello?" he called out. "Who's there? Where are you? Sakura Mamiya?"

Nothing answered.

He only heard a dripping sound, slow and deliberate, unlike drops of water. He had heard it before, this sound. It was common to find ghosts covered with blood. The sound of dripping blood was different from water in a subtle way. His grandmother had always described it as a shinigami trait. You could simply feel the life force slipping away whenever blood dropped, or in the case of ghosts, the echo of death.

"Who's there?" He asked again.

The laughter returned, rushing around him and Rinne stood up, raising his fists in defence. He felt naked without his scythe. Perhaps it was beside him, on the floor, but he felt nothing with his feet, only solid ground and uncertainty.

 _Don't you hate them, Rinne?_

He tensed.

 _Don't you hate those spoiled kings and queens, acting as if they deserve everything? They are in a higher class than us, wasting money and food without a thought, without truly treasuring the value of every cent, every crumb._

"Who are you?" Rinne said, ignoring the voice, "Show yourself."

 _You are the same as me, Rinne._

He made out the shape of a dark shadow. It was a girl, and from the height, she looked vaguely familiar...

 _We should make them pay. Don't you agree?_

Suddenly, Rinne wanted to be very far away. Something was screaming inside him, to run and get out, before it was too late, he turned and then—

Green eyes flashed at him. He felt pain all over his body. He opened his mouth but saw red, red every where dripping on him, around him, in the air and—

 _We should make them_ _**pay** _ _._

He woke up screaming.


	5. Chapter 5

"Are you in love with Rinne-kun?"

The sleepover had been her mother's idea and Sakura had been feeling uneasy about the whole affair for the past few hours. When her mother had proposed it earlier, Sakura had been initially pleased with the notion. Then she felt the shivers, a bitter cold crawling up inside her, the way she had felt before the ghost girl at school had written a message on the chalkboard. But she had waved that feeling off as coincidence, at the time, and decided to think nothing of it.

Now it was back, stronger than before and growing colder as the seconds ticked by. Sakura had pondered on informing Rinne of this, but hearing Tsubasa and Rinne conversing when she passed by the staircase on her way to the kitchen changed her mind. It wasn't often that the sort-of shinigami had a chance to relax and just be himself. Who was she to take away such a precious moment?

So she contented herself (or tried to) with the possibility that her intuition was wrong. There was nothing in the house. Spirits had never gotten into her house away. She didn't know the reason, but it had never failed her before. Why would it fail now?

These thoughts plagued Sakura when she returned to the bedroom. She didn't protest when Ageha redecorated the floor in an assortment of glitter and ribbons nor did she comment when Ageha began to put pink nail polish on both their toes. The female shinigami chattered away about her new boyfriend, while Sakura nodded at the appropriate intervals and conveyed her congratulations to the new couple.

The question, blurted from no logical source, startled Sakura back to reality.

Ageha was glaring at her (though Sakura had yet to hear the reason why), with arms crossed. It made an amusing picture because the female shinigami was not intimidating at all dressed in kitty pyjamas that were decorated with ribbons.

"I'm sorry…" Sakura decided to say slowly, "I'm not sure what you mean…"

There was snort. "You heard me. I've been telling you about how my _darling, dear, handsome and amazing boyfriend,_ Tsubasa- _kun_ , confessed his _undying, ever faithful and amazing love_ to me and all you have said in response is 'that's nice' or 'yes, I see' or 'hm' with that dopey expression on your face!"

Sakura merely stared blankly at her.

The female shinigami groaned. "You're hopeless. Must you always be so infuriatingly calm all the time? It's a wonder to know what you're thinking, girl!" She leaned back on her fortress of fluffy, laced pillows. "So… are you being distracted by someone else…? A boy…?" And then, the sinister edge in her voice returned, "…or Rinne Rokudo?"

Sakura stood up abruptly to put down her comb and faced the mirror, much to Ageha's annoyance.

"Don't be silly," she said, "Rokudo-kun and I are—"

"—just friends…?" Ageha echoed. "Are you sure? Or are you only denying it?"

She was about to reply that she was sure and that the female shinigami should trust Sakura's word more instead of doubting it all the time, when a flicker of unease settled into her stomach. There was something holding back her words, cautiously this time, that asked her if she had really inspected her feelings as closely as she thought. Perhaps it was the unnerving way that Ageha was staring at her, with defiance and threat and perhaps it was the whole matter of 'pretending to date' Rinne for the sake of catching the ghost…

…Or maybe it was the way Rinne looked when he was by himself sometimes, so tired and alone, prompting a deep ache within Sakura. When she saw him like that, she only wanted to reach out and—

They heard the scream then, ringing throughout the house.

Both girls froze, before Sakura broke the shocked stare first, and rushed down to the basement.

That was Rinne. Rinne was screaming and she didn't know why.

 **-5- Saving Nightmares  
**

The door burst open and Sakura rushed in, taking into her view, only Tsubasa's disheveled figure, staring at Rinne in shock as well as the sudden intensity of vicious aura in the basement.

Crumpled on the ground, like a writhing worm on a fisherman's hook, Rinne's was emitting horrible screams. The sounds reminded Sakura of a hoard of ghosts she had once happened upon. They had been victims, crushed to death in an earthquake by the sharp rubble falling on top of them. Their wounds had been gaping large, silver blood everywhere, limbs torn apart. All they could do, even in the afterlife, was scream and wail, scream and wail…

That was Rinne at the moment, crying out as if he was being viciously stabbed to death by an invisible phantom. The only evidence of any ghostly presence remained in the cold, deadly aura Sakura could feel lingering around Rinne's futon.

It seemed to hiss at Tsubasa, daring the exorcist to approach. Such movement was in vain for him; the exorcist seemed unable to move past the miasma of malicious hatred. His knees were trembling under the oppressive force and he looked whiter than Sakura had ever seen him.

She dashed towards the center of the aura, which was circling around Rinne, fighting her way through what seemed like a magnetic force, repelling her back. Sakura winced, holding her breath, as it felt constrained away from her, like an unseen person was collecting all of the oxygen in the room into the void floating above the thrashing and unconscious shinigami.

"Mamiya-san, don't come any closer!" She heard Tsubasa yell from the other side of the room. "That's an evil spirit, it could kill you!"

Her arms broke through the repelling force, letting her take another step forward. She bit her lip, making her legs edge forward inch by inch. She felt as if she was walking in the direction of a storm, a storm which refused to let its victims be in control. Her hair was flying around her face, getting in her eyes and her lips. The futons had, by now, circled around the basement ceiling at least twenty times but all Sakura could focus on was the bright head of red hair, and a pained face.

"Mamiya-san!" Tsubasa said.

But she took another step, arms held up as a weak guard in front of her face.

* * *

Ageha burst into the basement soon after, looking just as dishevelled as everyone else. When she took in the chaotic state of the storage room (and basement) her red eyes widened. The female shinigami said something under her breath, something to do with disbelief, but other than that, Sakura could not hear her with the oppressive aura hovering overhead.

" _Sakura_!" Ageha joined in the pleading, "Get away from there now, a human has no business being in a poisonous presence for long! You'll be dead within a few more minutes; the longer you stay, the worse it is!" The female shinigami's voice cut off into a curse, "Damn it, I've never seen a ghost this tainted before… I need to get my scythe…"

"You mean you didn't bring it before?" Tsubasa responded. "Couldn't you sense it—"

"No, god damn it, I could _not_ ," was the scathing reply, "and that's what _scares_ me. Could _you_ sense it at all, exorcist?"

The silence that followed answered her question.

"Sakura, get back here," Ageha returned to saying. "Let me handle this, I'm a professional and you—"

"I don't care."

Both Ageha and Tsubasa wore the same scandalized expressions. They had never heard Sakura Mamiya protest in such a way. Any interactions they had had with the human girl were mild and pleasant. Sakura was never one to take offense to anything that was said. Her head was level and her countenance extremely calm.

But the determination in her voice was something they had never heard before.

The girl in question was moving through the miasma-like aura through sheer will power, when that same aura had kept Tsubasa, a trained exorcist, frozen on his knees and had Ageha panicking. Sakura Mamiya was supposed to be a novice at exorcising spirits, an amateur in confronting the truly wicked of ghosts, yet here she was, walking against a dark aura as if she could do so with her guts alone.

 _What is this?_ Ageha thought. _She's supposed to be a mere human, she's not supposed to be this strong… and me… I just… I just…_

The female shinigami's fists tightened and she yanked Tsubasa to his feet, "Where are your weapons? Let's try those. Something has to work!"

Normally he would take offense to any comment that implied his arsenal to be mediocre (especially compared to the shinigami weapons selection) but even Tsubasa could comprehend when they were in a life and death matter.

The exorcist struggled to move, but was still too overwhelmed by the aura to do much but point towards his knapsack.

"There they are…," he said, leaning against her shoulder. Ageha tried not to think of how light he seemed, tried not to wonder if the exorcist would collapse from exhaustion. She herself was trembling. The exorcist noticed and tried to stand on his own two feet.

Ageha yanked him back, scowling. "Don't be stupid. You'll fall and waste our time if you try to be all macho. Just let me get us there."

Tsubasa didn't bother to hide his snort. "When you're just as powerless against this evil spirit as I am? Not a chance. We're crawling there together; it's only a few inches."

 _Only a few inches._

But as Ageha heard Rinne's screams echoing, she realized that they might not have that much time. Her stomach tightened in pain and she forced herself and Tsubasa stumbling forward.

They needed weapons _now!_

* * *

There was nothing between her and her destination, only something unseen, something spiteful, pushing her back, but if Sakura ignored the pain, only focused on letting each foot advance, she knew that she could reach him.

The closer she got, the more tangible the aura was. She could see it darkening around her, like a black fog filling the room. Her friends hadn't seemed to notice, so Sakura assumed that it was one of the side-effects of being so deeply immersed within the aura.

It was beginning to solidify, into a towering form, not much taller than Sakura herself. The black figure had human limbs, a head and a long flowing dress. As Sakura took another step, she could make out the features of the shape's face that were eerily familiar. One more step took Sakura a foot away from the center of the miasma and then she could see clearly.

The figure was standing over Rinne's body, hands pressed against his chest, forehead against his, with a malicious smile. It was the spirit, the one that vowed to kill anyone who dared to attend.

"Get away from him!"

Sakura bolted at the spirit, tearing at what should have been see-through, what should have been incorporeal limbs. Instead she hit something physical, like hitting a tree branch and nearly stepped back in surprise.

The spirit was corporal, absolutely corporal, and she was glaring at Sakura with what could be described only as pure loathing.

" _How dare you interfere between us"_ came the low chilling syllables, freezing her in place, _"how dare you try and_ _ **steal**_ _him from me!_ "

She lunged at Sakura, her eyes suddenly pure red and her face as grotesque as a soulless zombie. Sakura could see how elongated the spirit's nails had become, pure needles of ice forming from her finger tips, aimed at Sakura's heart. It was clear that the spirit's powers had evolved somehow, but Sakura wasn't sure, only Rinne's safety mattered now—

Sakura ducked, placing her hands forward to jab the spirits in the stomach, making it slash the ground instead. On the floor, Rinne slumped over with a moan, the spirit no longer entering his dreams through touch. At the same time, Sakura slipped around the spirit, hoping to evade its attacks until she could figure out a way to chase it out of her house or at least destroy it.

It turned to Sakura quickly, freezing more water vapour from the air into ice crystals, hovering around her. Then it dived at her, the crystals following on all sides, Sakura raised her fists, having nothing else to help her. She could only think of Rinne. She couldn't let any of the crystals hit Rinne in accidental misfire—

Several crystals cut through Sakura's clothes and embedded into her arms (which had been covering her head, preparing to strike), her stomach, her thighs and her calves. Sakura winced, holding her ground, until the spirit was just inches from Sakura's face—

Her punch landed directly in the spirit's mouth. If the spirit were still alive, several teeth would have been knocked out, at least. Such attacks were not enough to injure the otherworldly, not unless you took on a spirit form as Rinne did when he wore his haori.

Except that this attack _did_ hurt the spirit, very much.

Sakura blinked in surprise as the spirit flew backwards, yowling as if she was burned by Sakura's touch. A great light had emerged when her fist made contact with the spirit's face, blinding Sakura from seeing the results. But now she could see it clearly—a huge burn mark on the spirit's lips and the loss of the spirit's dark aura. It was still present, but not oppressing as it was before.

The loathing that the spirit held for Sakura seemed to increase a hundred fold. It crept towards her, aura becoming more menacing as it came closer.

" _You meddling little—"_

"Sacred ashes! Be gone evil spirit!"

A cloud of blessed white powder fell upon them. Normally this did little to deter spirits, but it was Ageha who had thrown them and Ageha seemed to concentrating very hard, as if her will was extended into the ashes, to repel the ghost.

Tsubasa looked haggard beside her, but didn't hesitate to throw out his bible. Looking extremely fatigued and burdened, the exorcist leapt up and hit the spirit with his bible corner crushing attack. Oddly enough (the exorcist's methods had never worked so well before, save for the incident with the dumpling damashigami) the spirit shrieked in pain and rushed to the ceiling, trying to escape.

Together, Ageha and Tsubasa shouted, "Oh, no you don't!" Both jumped at once, one with a bible and the other with the ashes, to banish the spirit for good, but it was too quick for them.

The spirit was gone, leaving Ageha and Tsubasa to simultaneously bang their heads together in mid-jump. They fell on the floor, temporarily dizzied from the pain and cursing the other ("Damn it, exorcist, watch where you land next time, moron!" "Well, it was your fault, she-devil!")

But Sakura was already at Rinne's side, holding his head up so that it was in her lap and checking his pulse. Her heart beat quickly, too quickly, in her veins, in her ears. She just wanted to know if Rinne was going to be alright. He was too pale, too haggard looking, it made her insides spin out of control to see him in this state.

"Rinne," the name slipped from her lips as she tried to shake him awake. "Rinne, _please_ …!"

A low moan told her that he was awake, but she did not release her grip on his shoulders until she saw his eye lids flutter open, gracing her with the sight of red irises.

Rinne jolted up immediately, as if lightning had electrocuted him. His arms grabbed at Sakura, pulling her towards him into an awkward hold, while his fists were raised in front of him, as if to defend them from predators. His breathing was uneven, too rough and shaken; while Sakura was sure that his eyes had a twinge of madness at the edges.

"Stay away from me!" He yelled, in a tone that she had never heard from the stoic shinigami before. Off to the side, Tsubasa and Ageha were bewildered by his outburst, unsure of what to say. "Stay away from me, I'm not like you! I don't want them dead, just leave them alone!"

It sounded like he was still dreaming.

Or maybe he still thought he was stuck in the ghost's nightmare.

"Rokudo-kun—no, _Rinne-kun_ —calm down please!" She tugged at his elbow, desperate to chase the desperation from his manner. "It's over, the spirit is gone, she can't hurt you anymore," Sakura tried to say soothingly. But she wasn't sure it was working well. Her experience with actively comforting others had never been good. Her voice tended to come out as monotonous and bland.

He was shaking; she could feel it, being pressed against him. Every heartbeat, every trembling movement, Sakura became hyper aware of everything. The way he tensed, the way his fingers tightened around her shoulders, how he seemed to falter back and slowly... Rinne put down his arms and looked down at Sakura, with disbelieving eyes.

"Sakura... Mamiya...?"

She opened her mouth, to say something, anything, but promptly forgot all speech when she saw the intensity of wild emotions—fear, doubt, more fear—swimming in his eyes. She kept her face blank because she wasn't sure how to react and decided to try to act as normal as possible. Perhaps there would be something soothing in the normalcy.

But she wasn't sure what to say, too struck by his desperate red depths.

She could only choke out one word, a shaky " _Rinne_ —"cut off before she could finish with the honorific when she felt him envelop her completely in his arms.

Sakura stiffened, falling down to her knees with Rinne, only aware of (warmth, security, something... something _right_ —) how tightly he held her, the ragged breaths shaking his entire body as the strongest person she had ever known seemed to break in front of her.

"Rinne-ku—"

"I'm sorry, Sakura Mamiya," his brusque voice hoarsely said, "but for now... please let me hold you."

It wasn't often that she was struck speechless, but this seemed to be one of those times. Kneeling, motionless and unsure in his arms, Sakura slowly put her hands around Rinne's shoulders and quietly prayed that he would be alright.

* * *

Tsubasa and Ageha were staring pointedly at them both. Sakura wondered why. A passing thought suggested that perhaps they were bothered by the awkward embrace that Rinne and Sakura had shared only moments before. But Sakura decided that this couldn't be the reason. The exorcist and female shinigami were dating each other now, they had no reason to be jealous or bothered.

Rinne, on the other hand, had become extremely distant and formal around Sakura to the point where he wouldn't look her directly in the eye without becoming red. Sakura felt odd (and... slightly hurt) whenever he did this. But, she reasoned, maybe the fever had gotten worse because of spirit and Rinne was too polite to share his ailments. Strangely enough, this disturbed her even more and did not placate Sakura's strange feelings for a moment.

They were gathered in the sitting room with Tsubasa and Ageha stewing by the table, arms crossed. Rinne was pacing back and forth, avoiding eye contact, especially with Sakura (again, the irk returned and Sakura fought to push it away). She had brought out some tea, hoping to soothe everyone's nerves.

Unsurprisingly Kaori had slept through the whole adventure, for which Sakura was grateful. She wasn't sure how she would explain to her mother why a ghost had been haunting the basement. Then again, Kaori believed even the wildest excuses, so Sakura had little trouble keeping her mother oblivious to the supernatural accidents that seemed to follow her.

"So," Tsubasa said after taking a sip of green tea, "how did that spirit come to enter Mamiya-san's home?"

"Yeah, I thought that this place was already warded," Ageha interjected.

Sakura sat down at the other side of the table, "Warded?"

The couple stared at her incredulously.

"Warded against spirits," Rinne explained warily. He was sitting next to her, but attention fixed towards his cup. "I was going to ward it the first time I met you... but I found that it was already protected. I merely assumed that another shinigami had done it..."

"But you were the first shinigami I met after I was spirited away. Hypnosis hasn't worked on me since Aunty Tamako first used it on me. No shinigami has ever gone by my house before."

The three other occupants in the room leaned closer in interest and awe.

"But then... maybe this house was always protected...?" Tsubasa wondered.

Ageha frowned, "Have you always lived here? Have you had problems with spirits entering your home before?"

"No... We moved around a lot when I was little because...," Sakura faltered, only for a moment, "my father's work required it. But in every home we lived in, we never once had any problems with ghosts. I was always safe there. Today was the first time a ghost broke in..."

"But that's impossible... ghosts are attracted you, at least a little bit... it's too coincidental that you'd never have ghosts in your home, even once, in all your years...," Ageha drummed her fingers against the table.

"Maybe," Tsubasa intervened slowly, "Mamiya-san has powers much stronger than we all thought."

" _What?_ " That was Ageha and Rinne; Sakura merely blinked at the revelation.

"Are you sure, Tsubasa?" She asked. She had never felt very powerful after all.

"I'm sure," he nodded. "Think about it. Lately, you've been able to sense that ghost when we couldn't, long before we could. Then there was tonight... Ageha and I were paralyzed by the ghost's aura, yet you were able to move against it with sheer will. And remember our other exorcisms? Don't you think it's weird how easily and naturally you can put spirits to rest? Maybe your previous homes were never invaded by spirits _because_ you subconsciously put up a barrier against them, out of some trauma from interacting with ghosts," Sakura tensed but Tsubasa didn't notice, "or something. Only today that ghost came through because she was extremely powerful. What do you think?"

No one said a thing; Sakura was too busy contemplating how plausible this was before Ageha said, "That's impossible! She's still just a human who gained her sight in the shinigami world, most gifted humans are extremely weak when it comes to sensing spirits—"

"—Are you referring to me, _sweetie_?" the exorcist asked icily.

But Ageha went on, "—I haven't heard of this before."

"Well of course you haven't heard of this. You're a shinigami. As if you bother with the affairs of the living," Tsubasa retorted. "But I do believe I should be an expert on this, and I'd say that my guess the most correct."

"You—"

"It makes sense."

They looked up at Rinne, who was still staring at this cup.

Sakura frowned, "...Rinne-kun...?"

The sort-of shinigami smiled dimly and ( _finally_ , whispered a part of her) looked straight at her, "I always did say that you'd make a first-rate shinigami... given some training."

She was going to reply blandly that she wasn't interested in such an endeavour, as usual, when she found that the words wouldn't quite leave her mouth the way she wanted. Her stomach was twisting and shrill warmth was rushing through her insides, burning up the skin on her cheeks. It occurred to Sakura that she was pleased with Rinne's words and a part of her was more relieved that Rinne had decided to stop avoiding her gaze.

Unsure, Sakura lifted her cup, felt the heat steaming up against her face and took a long sip to distract her woes.

"We should focus on the ghost," Ageha snapped, snapping her fingers. "What did it want? Why was it here?"

"Obviously it wanted to possess Rokudo," her boyfriend replied, "and it seemed to have an extreme hatred for Mamiya-san. I guess your pseudo dating is working... the spirit is coming directly to you."

The four of them fell into an uneasy silence.

"Sakura Mamiya, let's break up."

Suddenly everything felt very cold.

She frowned and stared directly at him, "I'm sorry," she said neutrally, while Ageha and Tsubasa seemed to watch as if this were an interesting television show, "What did you say, Rinne-kun?"

"I think we should stop pretending to date. This is getting too dangerous," Rinne said, setting his cup down. "This spirit isn't one of the silly ghosts that have superficial problems. She's the real deal and she will _kill_ you if you continue against her—"

"No!"

More incredulous staring from all of the occupants.

Sakura felt her fists clench as the emotions spilled forth, but she focused them into a direct gaze and steady voice, "I'm already involved. The ghost already thinks we're dating. She knows where I live. She won't believe us if we 'break up.' That's the most predictable move. I have a feeling she won't forget and she certainly won't forgive. Besides, didn't you say that I could stand up against her aura? I'm staying, Rinne. I made my decision and I have _always_ understood the consequences."

As she finished, she kept her eyes on his, daring him to argue.

After what seemed like forever, he wrenched his stare away.

"...Fine, you're right."

Her shoulders relaxed. Strange, she hadn't even noticed that she was tense. She stole a glance at Ageha and Tsubasa. They seemed to have expressions mixed in disappointment and something else.

"But I think that we need more information, to do investigations... discover just who this spirit was and what she truly wants. Until then, since Sakura Mamiya and I have become her prime targets, I will stay by her side at all times to protect her."

"Well, alright—wait, _what?_ " Tsubasa shot out of his chair. "But—"

"You can't—" Ageha joined in.

"That's my condition," said Rinne, looking directly at her and at that moment, Sakura felt shivers down her spine that had nothing to do with sensing ghosts. His expression darkened. "She _will_ be safe."

Sakura suddenly wanted, very much, to know what the ghost had said to Rinne in his dream, and wondered what it would take to wash away the darkness in his soul.

"Alright," she nodded, "it's a deal."

But that didn't mean that Sakura couldn't protect him as well.


End file.
